Patriots lock up region title, dominate Pelham
PELHAM -- The Homewood High School football team’s defense was nearly impeccable on Friday night. The Patriots clinched their first Class 6A, Region 3 title since 2017 with a 28-0 victory at Pelham.
Homewood’s defense (6-2, 5-0 in region) limited the Panthers offense to 132 total yards and forced a pair of interceptions to remain undefeated in region play.
“I was really proud of our defense tonight,” said Homewood head coach Ben Berguson. “We took control of the game and we were able to run the ball on them late and pop some big plays.”
The two defenses stood tall through the first four drives with only one combined first down achieved.
Homewood broke through near the end of the opening quarter. Jackson Parris jumpstarted the drive with a 23-yard catch-and-run on the first play of the Patriots’ third drive to move into plus territory. They continued to methodically drive until Woods Ray punched it in from 4 yards out for a 7-0 lead before the first quarter came to an end.
The Patriots’ next offensive drive looked similar to the last as they chipped away to drive inside the 5-yard line. Mondrell Odell and Parris ran into each other in the backfield to set the Pats back three yards and an incompletion the next play led to third down. On the 12th play of the drive, Ray rolled to the right, was pressured and lofted a pass into the end zone that cornerback Jamal Miles intercepted after wrestling with a Homewood receiver.
The visitors forced the Panthers to punt on the ensuing drive and took advantage of the extra opportunity before halftime. A roughing the passer tacked onto the end of an 18-yard pass pushed the Pats into the red zone. A few plays later, Odell slipped past a defender in the backfield to score from 5 yards out with only 17 seconds showing in the half.
The Homewood defense would punctuate its dominant first half performance with an interception on Pelham’s only subsequent offensive play. Talton Thomas bobbled the pass but managed to bat it over to Rigdon Gibbons to end the half.
The Patriots outgained Pelham 163-54 in the first half as the Panthers achieved only two first downs in the opening 24 minutes, and were penalized seven times for a total of 53 yards.
Pelham chewed up nearly half of the third quarter on the opening drive but turned it over on downs at the Patriots 32-yard line.
Ray pushed the lead to three possessions six plays later. The senior quarterback waited until the last moment to keep the ball on a read option play, and the delay led to a clear opening and 55 yards later, Homewood led 21-0 with 2:46 to play in the third quarter.
“We knew that the outside linebackers were going to blitz,” said Ray on his touchdown run. “I was waiting for my time to pull on the read, had not done so all game, and I knew (the linebacker) was going to come down hard. The receivers gave me good blocks and I went as fast as I could to the end zone.”
Clay Burdeshaw added a second Homewood interception the next drive as Clayton Mains’ pass on third down overshot his target near midfield.
“We just had to warm them down a little bit,” added Berguson on his defense’s effort. “Then, our line was able to take control at that point.”
Calyb Colbert tacked on the Patriots’ final score of the game at 9:40 in the final frame. The senior running back kept his legs churning as the Pelham defense attempted to tackle him, but Colbert was able to breakaway for a 32-yard score to push it to the final score of 28-0.
Homewood extends its series lead to 16-7 with the victory.
Ray finished with 122 passing yards on 10-for-18 with 86 yards rushing on 12 carries. He had the one touchdown run and one interception.
Mains finished 11-for-26 with 56 yards passing and two interceptions. He led the Panthers in rushing with 32 yards on seven carries.
The Patriots return home next Friday night to wrap up region play against Briarwood.
Pelham (4-4, 3-2) hits the road to play Chilton County next week. The Panthers will look for a win as they battle for seeding in the playoffs.