Patriots hold on against McAdory
HOMEWOOD — Every moment and every second of the final sixteen plays run in the final 2:52 of Friday night’s Homewood High School football game against McAdory was crucial.
With Homewood leading 9-7, the Yellow Jackets faced a fourth-and-7 from their own 45-yard line. Quarterback Cam Shepherd converted a 10-yard strike to Miles Burton. Facing a fourth-and-13 with less than a minute to play, Shepherd found Jervontae Gray for 15 yards. Facing a fourth-and-10 from the Homewood 33 with fewer than 20 seconds to play, Shepherd connected with Cameron Harris for 18 yards.
Finally, as the scoreboard ran down to only three seconds, McAdory attempted a field goal for the win. The kick was low and never had a chance, preserving a 9-7 Homewood win at Waldrop Stadium. Shepherd’s three fourth-down completions accounted for three of his five for the game.
“I don’t (have the words),” Homewood head coach Ben Berguson said of the last-second win. “We shot ourselves in the foot so many times tonight. That’s what I’m really disappointed about. But I thought our kids really played hard tonight.”
Homewood went up 2-0 on the first play of the second quarter when Patriots linebacker Carter Engle dragged down McAdory’s Gray in the end zone. On the ensuing drive, Homewood quarterback Woods Ray plunged forward 2 yards to put Homewood (2-1) up 9-0.
McAdory (0-3) closed the gap two drives later, going 68 yards in 10 plays, capped by Rod Thomas’ 3-yard scoring run.
The second half saw no scoring but featured plenty of drama. Ray was picked off in the end zone on a drive that, had the Patriots scored, likely would have put the Yellow Jackets away. McAdory fumbled the ball away with five minutes to play, resulting in Charlie Goode’s second fumble recovery of the night. McAdory then roughed the Homewood punter on fourth-and-7 with three minutes left, a gift for the Patriots. Homewood, however, gave the ball right back a play later on a Ray fumble. The ensuing drive was McAdory’s 16-play, 43-yard drive that resulted in the missed field goal.
“I thought at different times we should have put them away, but we just breathed life back into them,” Berguson said. “But a win is a win. I’ll take it any way I can get it.”
Ray finished 8-of-12 for 88 yards and an interception. Brode Susce completed 8-of-15 passes for 69 yards. Len Irvine has his second stellar performance in a row, this game catching nine passes for 111 yards.
“He’s such a winner,” Berguson said. “He plays harder than anybody on the team. He’s just a great football player.”
Defensively, Homewood held McAdory to 146 total yards. Goode had two fumble recoveries and Taylor Patterson picked off a Shepherd pass.
“I thought our defense played great tonight,” Berguson said. “Outstanding from the very beginning with the safety and on. They did a great job all night.”
Homewood finished with 222 total yards but couldn’t punch the ball into the end zone when it had chances. The Patriots’ worst starting field position was its own 27-yard line, and they started four of their 10 drives in McAdory territory.
“We’ve got to find a way to score when we’re in the red zone,” Berguson said. “You’ve got to have that killer mentality when we’re in the red zone.”
Homewood opens Class 6A, Region 5 play by hosting Chelsea next week.
“We’ve got to regroup and clean things up,” Berguson said. “We’ve got a huge region game against Chelsea at home here. We’ve got to win that. We’ll have our hands full.”
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