Patriots falter at McAdory
McCALLA -- Life was good for the Homewood High School football team Friday night at McAdory, until it wasn’t.
The home-standing Yellow Jackets spotted the visitors 15 points before storming back for a 45-18 victory at McAdory Stadium.
The Patriots got off to a fast start with junior Woods Ray getting McAdory to bite on play-action before hitting Aron Marsch with a 47-yard touchdown pass. Even an error on the extra point went Homewood’s way as a bad snap yielded a 2-point pass from Marsch to Tripp Gann.
Homewood’s good fortune continued as Aaron Ford recovered a Yellow Jackets fumble in the end zone for a touchdown. This time, J.C. Daniel hit the extra point.
“We knew they were going to be susceptible to play-action, we hit them big and we recovered the fumble for a touchdown,” Patriots coach Ben Berguson said. “We spotted them 15 points but we weren’t able to run the ball tonight. They whipped us up front on both sides of the ball. We were timid and they were tougher than us.”
McAdory coaches had the word “Trust” on their backs. That’s been the message first-year head coach Aryvia Holmes has been telling his squad.
“We weren’t worried at all,” junior running back Peyton Ryans said. “Coach preached to us to have trust and that’s what we did, coming back. We trusted our team, we trusted everything the coaches said and we got the job done.”
The head coach echoed that sentiment.
“We just told them to trust it,” Holmes said. “We talk about it all the time. These kids went through a tough time last year. Had some ups, had some downs. When I got here, I just talked to them about just trusting what the coaches tell you.
“They’re buying in every day and doing what they should do in the classroom, on and off the field,” he said. “They’re making plays. I tell them all the time: It’s not about me. It’s these kids, man. They’re playing their tails off, just doing what we’re telling them to do and it’s working out right now.”
McAdory scored the next 26 points. Homewood had a chance to challenge, using a blocked punt by Adam Parker to get a short field. The ensuing drive reached the McAdory 1 but no farther as the visitors settled for a field goal.
Homewood would get no closer as McAdory put 19 points on the board in the fourth quarter.
“I just felt we were really timid tonight,” Berguson said. “I just felt like they were tougher than us all night long. I’ll fix that next week. We’ll go back to work. We’ll change the way we practice next week. We’ll get better, I promise you.”