Cavs stun Patriots in Battle of Lakeshore
HOMEWOOD -- The so-called Battle of Lakeshore lived up to its name Friday night, as the John Carroll Catholic High School football team hung on for dear life to defeat Homewood 36-31 at Pat Sullivan Field.
Led by senior quarterback Carson McFadden, John Carroll led by as many as 12 points at several points throughout the game. However, the Cavaliers needed big plays from the defense — including two key turnovers in the second half — to secure the victory.
In fact, the opening minutes suggested John Carroll could be in for a long night as Homewood jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. On the opening kickoff, Homewood’s Cameron Fortson found a seam and scampered down the right sideline before being gang-tackled at the John Carroll 11-yard line. Just three plays later, Homewood quarterback Will Myers plowed through the line up the middle for a 2-yard touchdown to give the Patriots a 7-0 lead with barely two minutes played.
However, the Cavaliers responded on their second play from scrimmage with a 60-plus-yard touchdown run by senior running back Mitchell Nutter. McFadden then ran into the end zone to convert a two-point conversion to take an 8-7 lead.
John Carroll needed just four plays to score on its next possession, this time on a 43-yard run up the gut by junior running back Koron Wright. Again, the two-point conversion was successful, pushing John Carroll’s lead to 16-7.
It was at this point McFadden took over.
Following a short field goal from Homewood kicker Whit Armistead, McFadden scored two of his three touchdown runs in the second quarter. McFadden first found the end zone on a 10-yard run with 4:16 to play in the first half. Homewood answered on its next drive as Myers connected with senior wide receiver Alex Law on a dart up the middle for a 50-yard touchdown to cut John Carroll’s lead to 23-17.
However, with just 19 seconds left to play in the first half, McFadden found an opening thanks to his offensive line and scampered for a 30-yard score and a 12-point lead over the Patriots, 29-17, at halftime.
Homewood settled down as the second half began, forcing the Cavaliers to punt after just five plays and minimum yardage. Homewood scored just five players later on another touchdown pass from Myers to Law, this time for 22 yards.
John Carroll started its first drive of the fourth quarter from its own 11-yard-line with 11:03 on the clock. McFadden ran the ball on almost every play of the drive, converting on multiple third-down and long situations, eventually scoring his third touchdown of the night, a 13-yard run with 2:45 to play and a seemingly insurmountable 12-point lead, 36-24.
Homewood needed just two plays to march 80 yards for another touchdown, closing the gap to 36-31.
The Patriot's defense forced one more punt taking over on their own 35-yard line. Once again, Homewood quickly moved the ball down the field as Myers found receiver after receiver. However, with just under a minute and a half to play and the ball on the John Carroll 13-yard line, Myers’ shovel pass was intercepted by senior C.J. Wyatt with 1:20 to play, sealing the victory for John Carroll.
Cavaliers head coach Will Mara was emotional following the win, holding back tears of joy as he processed what his team accomplished.
“This means everything. These kids have worked so hard to change the culture,” Mara said. “They bought into everything that we’ve asked them to do over the summer and it means the world.”
“We played as a team,” Mara added. “I’m just proud of these boys and proud of this school.”
McFadden said defeating Homewood was a focus of the Cavaliers during team meetings in preseason meetings.
“We established some team goals and one common denominator was ‘Beat Homewood,'” McFadden said. “It feels so good to be here now because we put in so much work all summer. It feels great.”
Homewood head coach Ben Berguson said before the game he believed this was one of the better John Carroll teams in many years and felt this would be a test for a young Patriots squad.
“I thought we were very soft tonight and they took the fight to us,” Berguson said. “Our immaturity showed tonight. At the end of the night, we couldn’t tackle the quarterback.”
Homewood will travel to rival Vestavia Hills next Friday, while John Carroll hosts Marbury in non-region play as well.