Hoover held off a Spain Park rally as the Bucs earned their first win of the season by downing the Jags 28-20.

The Bucs defense held repeatedly, forcing Spain Park to seven three-and-out possessions and stalling them on four straight possessions in the first half.

“They’re responding to everything we’ve asked them to do,” said Hoover head coach Wade Waldrop. “They’re staying together … we’re growing, and we’re getting better. We’re going to continue to get better, and we’re going to have to get better before we go to Vestavia Hills.”

Spain Park raced down the field and scored on its opening possession when Brock Bradley found senior wideout Jonathan Bibbs for an 18-yard touchdown pass with 10:44 left in the first.

The Bucs (1-2) drove 80 yards after the score, capped by Kamal Amerson’s 3-yard touchdown. Hoover surged ahead on pass from Noah Schuback to Jordan Woolen for a 14-7 lead with less than a minute to go in the first.

Spain Park answered with a 22-yard scoring pass from Bradly to Jamar Jones on a third-and-16 to tie the score 14-all. The drive covered 59 yards.

Schuback hit KJ Law on a 14-yard touchdown with time running out in the half to take a 21-14 lead that the Bucs would never relinquish.

“Everybody on our team was hungry,” Woolen said. “This was on practice. Everybody was serious, nobody was playing around. We were just focused on what we had going on this week.”

Schuback was 14-for-30 for 130 yards, a pair of scores and one interception.

Spain Park made it 21-20 on a scoring run by Jaxon Haygood in the fourth quarter, but the difference for the Bucs came down to big plays on special teams. Twice Hoover blocked kicks — one field goal and one extra point — and then blocked a punt into the punter, who recovered the ball and was run down at his own 20-yard line.

Fred Dunson scored on a 3-yard run following the blocked punt.

Spain Park still had a shot at the end.

With less than a minute left in the game, Spain Park (2-1) got four straight completions from Bradley, but his last two passes fell harmlessly to the turf and Hoover ran out the clock to escape with the victory.

“We definitely had our chances,” said Spain Park head coach Tim Vakakes. “We came in and we had a couple of tailbacks hurt, we had six kids take a snap at tailback tonight and we struggled running the ball tonight. We were trying to make do with what we had and draw stuff up in the dirt. Thought our defense did a good job of putting us into some good positions to try to score and answer.”

— Play of the Game: With Hoover clinging to a one-point lead, 21-20, Fred Dunson went up the middle for 3 yards to salt the victory away for the Bucs with 2:01 left.

–By The Numbers: Schuback was efficient for Hoover and hit his first seven passes in a row, but Bradley was most of the offense for the Jags. Bradley went 22-for-38 for 218 yards, a pair of touchdowns, and one INT; 5: Hoover was called for five personal fouls in the game; 4: Four turnovers, two for each team.

— Game ball:  Woolen, who was a deep threat and a nearly sure thing for the Bucs’ offense.

—Coachspeak: “That’s not who we are and that’s not what we’re trying to do. When we’re at our best, we’re not doing any of that. We’re an inexperienced football team right now and it’s showing every week. I was concerned coming on the road that those emotions would show like that affect how we played.” —Waldrop on multiple personal fouls committed by Hoover

—They Said it: “We can’t be afraid to win. We keep knocking at the door.” —Vakakes

“We came in and the didn’t really try running the ball, so we just did our jobs trying to get to the QB and make him struggle.” —Hoover linebacker Bradley Shaw

—Next Week: Hoover travels to Vestavia Hills, while Spain Park hosts Thompson.