Patriots blank John Carroll
Homewood High School head football coach Ben Berguson said he wanted his Patriots to play a perfect game on Friday night against John Carroll.
They came mighty close.
Behind three Ty Hatcher touchdown passes and a lights-out defensive performance, Homewood (3-3, 2-1) blanked the Cavaliers (1-5, 0-4) 45-0 in a Class 6A, Region 5 matchup on homecoming night at Waldrop Stadium.
Friday night was Homewood’s first game since its loss to Helena on Sept. 16, as the Patriots took their bye week last Friday.
“We wanted to get focused after that loss to Helena. We wanted to regroup, come back and play hard, and that was the main thing for us tonight,” Hatcher said. “We just wanted to come out and do our job and work on getting better.”
Mission accomplished.
Homewood’s offense demonstrated the aerial explosiveness that it had been missing for most of the season, and the defense showcased its ability to play a complete game.
Through the air, two of Hatcher’s touchdowns came on passes of 37 and 56 yards. Wide receiver TyShawn Buckner hauled in the 37-yarder, which Hatcher threw in the second quarter while scrambling to his right out of the pocket.
“I told TyShawn before, I was like, ‘Hey, you’re going to be open on this,’ and he sure was,” Hatcher said, “so I just let him have it, and he made a play for me down the field.”
Logan Padgett, a sophomore, reeled in the 56-yarder. Padgett caught the ball about 25 yards from the line of scrimmage and sprinted into the end zone, shedding a would-be tackler along the way.
“That was pretty cool,” Hatcher said of the fourth-quarter touchdown. “He made a heck of a play.”
Homewood’s defense, meanwhile, pitched its first shutout since blanking John Carroll 35-0 in 2015.
“I was really proud of the effort tonight,” Berguson said. “I was really proud of our defense getting the shutout.”
The Patriots stifled John Carroll’s rushing attack, which forced the Cavs to rely heavily on the arm of junior quarterback Bailey Mara. Mara went 11-of-24 passing for 145 yards, but he tossed a pair of interceptions that were snatched by Homewood defensive back C.D. Daniels.
“Whatever I can do to make my team win,” Daniels said of his performance.
Both of Daniels’ interceptions led directly to Homewood touchdowns, as did a fumble recovery by defensive lineman Antoine McGhee. McGhee, whom Daniels praised highly after the game, recovered a fumble in the Patriots’ end zone to stave off a John Carroll scoring threat in the second quarter.
“He played a good game tonight,” Daniels said of McGhee. “He just stopped the backfield play.”
Homewood held a 31-0 lead at halftime before adding two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
In addition to Hatcher’s two strikes from distance, he threw a 12-yard dart to Bailey Lapinsky in the second quarter. Lapinsky hauled in two touchdowns on the night, with the first coming on a 5-yard pass from quarterback Larkin Williams that capped the Patriots’ second drive of the game.
As is usual this season, Williams and Hatcher swapped in and out at quarterback every two possessions.
Running backs Chestin Jones and David Robertson added TD rushes of 6 yards and 1 yard. Jones played only the first half, tallying 72 yards on 11 rushes.
On special teams, place-kicker Ibrahima Sylla contributed a 41-yard field goal in the second quarter.
Overall, Hatcher finished 8 of 11 for 201 yards and three TDs. Williams finished 5 of 9 for 57 yards and one score.
The Patriots will return to action next Friday, when they face a critical region test at Ramsay.
“It’s a huge confidence builder. We were awfully down last week after the Helena loss, but hopefully we’ll recover here and have a lot of confidence going into Ramsay,” Berguson said. “We still have a chance of winning the region championship if we can upset them.”