Patriots fall to Shades Valley
HOMEWOOD -- The Homewood High School football team suffered its first region loss of the season on Thursday night, falling to Shades Valley 34-17 at home.
Entering a matchup against the winless Mounties (1-6, 1-3 Class 6A, Region 5), on record alone the Patriots might be considered the favorites. But Homewood head coach Ben Berguson and his team knew coming in that Shades Valley would be a tough fight.
“They’ve got a good football team and they’ve been close [to winning] all year,” Berguson said. “We broke down all of their film, and they’ve been so close to turning the corner.”
The fight was made a little tougher for the Patriots (5-2, 3-1 in region) right from the start. After receiving the opening kickoff and starting in good field position, on Homewood’s third play from scrimmage, sophomore quarterback Woods Ray’s pass tipped off the fingers of his intended receiver and fell right into the outstretched arms of the Mounties’ Marlen Sewell, who returned the interception over 70 yards for the first score of the game.
“The pick-six to start the game really hurt us,” Berguson said.
Rebounding from the turnover touchdown, however, the Patriots offense made up the deficit on its ensuing possession, going 76 yards on five plays, culminating in a 15-yard touchdown run from Ray that tied the game 7-7.
The two teams then traded touchdowns on their next possessions. Shades Valley, making all of its plays on the ground, rushed 53 yards down the field on eight plays to take a 14-7 lead. Homewood, to tie it back up right before the end of the first quarter, put together its own eight-play, 67-yard touchdown drive that ended with an 8-yard touchdown reception by senior receiver Len Irvine from Ray.
Regaining confidence, the Patriots forced Shades Valley to punt to start the second quarter and then capitalized with a 25-yard field goal by junior J.C. Daniel, giving Homewood its first lead of the game with 5:47 to play in the half.
Unfortunately for the Patriots, their first lead would ultimately be their only lead and it would not last very long. Four minutes after the Daniel field goal, the Mounties scored their third touchdown of the game on a 41-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Earl Woods to receiver Kailen Alexander. After the failed two-point conversion, Shades Valley led 20-17 with 1:26 to go until halftime.
The Patriots had a chance to tie it back up before the half, but Daniel’s 43-yard field goal attempt as the second quarter expired sailed wide left.
“We had things going at different times and I thought we moved the ball well at times,” Berguson said. “Not being able to get those points right at the end of the half also hurt us.”
The 17 points the Patriots scored in the first half would be the only points they would score in the game, as the visiting Mounties shut out the home team in the second half.
Shades Valley scored on its first possession of the second half with the remainder of both teams’ drives in the third quarter ending in interceptions. With the exception of Homewood’s final possession, which ended the game, all other Patriots drives for the remainder resulted in either interceptions or punts.
“The interceptions really hurt us,” Berguson said. “You can’t throw three interceptions in a game like that.”
Shades Valley sealed the game with 1:54 to play, taking the final 34-17 lead after a 2-yard touchdown run by Davin Bostick.
“That was a tough one and we really needed that one going into the Mountain Brook game,” Berguson said. “We’ve just got to regroup now and get ready for the Mountain Brook game next week. We’ve got to get over this in a hurry. We’re quite capable and we just need to have a great week of practice next week.”