Tough Patriots take down Carver
BIRMINGHAM – Just across Interstate 65 North from Carver High School is the American Cast Iron Pipe Company, where iron and steel pipe is manufactured. It is tough, grueling work.
Maybe, just maybe, the Homewood High School football team, most notably the defense, saw the ACIPCO plant on the drive to G.W. Carver High School Stadium on Friday night and was inspired by that toughness.
No. 8 Homewood (7-1, 5-0 Class 6A, Region 5) held Carver-Birmingham to 117 total yards en route to a 27-13 victory, setting up a de facto region championship next week against No. 9 Jackson-Olin, also undefeated in region play.
“It’ll be huge, the biggest game of the year so far, region championship,” said Homewood defensive back Ky Burdeshaw, who recovered a fumble. “It’ll be fun.”
On Friday night, both teams came out relatively flat. Patriots running back KeOnte Davis bulled forward two yards for the game’s first touchdown at the 8:23 mark of the second quarter, giving Homewood a 7-0 lead. Carver (4-4, 1-4) punted the ball away late in the first half, but Homewood’s Trae Ausmer touched the ball, and the Rams recovered it in the end zone to tie the game 7-7.
Some of the flatness for Homewood was because quarterback Larkin Williams left the game late in the second quarter after shanking a punt off his left foot. He went to the medical tent to have the foot examined. Head coach Ben Berguson said he “tweaked” it a little bit.
Williams’ foot was heavily taped, and he returned to start the third quarter, leading the Patriots on a 12-play, 99-yard drive following Burdeshaw’s fumble recovery, a fumble forced by Kameron Gaines. Williams sneaked one yard for the touchdown that put Homewood up 14-7.
“I thought it gave us some more energy,” Burdeshaw said.
Three minutes later, Ausmer made up for his earlier miscue and returned a punt 62 yards to pay dirt. The point-after attempt failed, and Homewood led 20-7.
“I just saw that I’ve got to get my revenge on that punt,” Ausmer said.
From there, Khardi Dalton was the workhorse, rushing for 65 yards in the second half. His 3-yard touchdown run with 4:36 to play gave Homewood a 27-7 lead. Carver-Birmingham got in the end zone with 15 seconds left when Ross Holloway connected with D’Anthony Threatt for a 13-yard touchdown.
“I thought our defense was playing great in the first half and I thought we came out flat on offense,” Berguson said. “We had to challenge our offensive line at halftime, and we came out and got a great push in the whole third quarter."
Carver managed just 17 total yards in the first half. Its only first down of the opening half was achieved by Homewood roughing the punter
“They just run to the ball so well,” Berguson said. “High energy. They just do a great job. I’ve said since last summer, it’s the best defensive front we’ve had since I’ve been here.”
Williams finished 15-of-18 for 206 yards and an interception in his limited time. He said he plans to ice his left foot for the foreseeable future until next week’s region championship against Jackson-Olin. Williams may have been the catalyst, the spark the Patriots needed to take the lead for good in the second half with the big third-quarter drive capped by his rushing score.
“That drive definitely gave us a spark,” he said. “When I got in the tent and found out (my foot) wasn’t as bad as I thought it was, my mindset was like, ‘I’m just ready to get this thing taped and go.’ I could tell my team was struggling. (Carver) kind of had the momentum, so I was eager to get back in there.”
Dalton rushed 17 times for 82 yards and a touchdown. He also caught a pass for 61 yards. Davis finished with 47 yards on 12 carries and a score. Marcus McGhee led the receiving corps with five receptions for 52 yards.
Carver managed only seven first downs in the game, six of which came on the final drive. The Rams punted 10 times in the game.
“I’ve got to give all the credit to our defensive coordinator, Coach (Fred) Lawrence,” Burdeshaw said. “He’s spent so much time scheming up different teams. When everybody on our team is doing their job, usually good things happen.”
Homewood will face a stiff challenge next Friday when it travels to Jackson-Olin.
“They’ve got more talent than they’ve ever had right now at every level,” Berguson said. “We just can’t start off slow like we did (tonight) next week.”
Jackson-Olin also has on its roster David Robertson, a Homewood transfer who rushed 24 times for 139 yards and three touchdowns in a 28-21 playoff win over Fort Payne last season in the playoffs.
“It’ll be fun playing against him,” Burdeshaw said. “We’re still friends, of course, but it’ll be friendly competition out there for sure. They have good athletes, so we’re going to need to be ready to play.”
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