Patriots fall at Vestavia
VESTAVIA HILLS – The Rebels had the perfect balance of old and new Friday night.
The old-school ways of tough, physical, hard-nosed football were present. The new-school ways of fresh red jerseys also made an appearance.
That combination culminated in a 43-0 victory for Vestavia Hills High School over Homewood on a misty evening at Thompson Reynolds Stadium.
It was all Rebels from the start, as they put up 22 points in the opening quarter and made quick work of the Patriots. Vestavia hit big plays through the air and dominated on the ground as well.
“We kind of imposed our will, but we tip our hat,” Vestavia Hills head coach Robert Evans said following the game. “We’ve got a lot of respect for the job they do. They’re just young this year.”
William Tonsmeire set up a pair of touchdowns for the Rebels in the first quarter with long runs. He had over 100 rushing yards at the half and finished the game with 10 carries for 156 yards.
John Paul Head scored the first of five touchdowns on the Rebels’ opening drive after one of those long runs, as he crossed the goal line on an 8-yard run. Head threw for the other four touchdowns. He connected on a 50-yard pass to Cooper Mollison, a 55-yarder to Carson Mann, a 33-yard pass to Keown Richardson and an 11-yard strike to Caden Taylor.
Taylor scored on an 8-yard run in the first quarter as well.
“When we’re pacing and tempo-ing, we’re at our best,” Evans said.
Head was on target all night, completing 12-of-15 throws for 232 yards. He only carried the ball 8 times, but that number will go up as the Rebels hit the meat of their schedule.
“That was the plan tonight, we don’t want him to have the burden. I have to do a good job of managing the season,” Evans said.
Whit Williamson had 5 carries for 27 yards and Jay Daniels had a couple of grabs for 34 yards for Vestavia.
Vestavia held Homewood to 166 total yards, a marked improvement from last week’s 350-yard performance against Mountain Brook.
“We tackled a little bit better but we also blocked well up front tonight. Defensively, we did not play well last week. The tape always tells the truth,” Evans said.
Homewood struggled to get anything going all night, and lost quarterback Will Myers to injury in the first half, following a key first down run at the time. Kaleb Carson played much of the final two quarters for the Patriots at quarterback.
“They controlled the ball on both sides of the line of scrimmage and we just couldn’t get anything going all night,” Homewood head coach Ben Berguson said.
Myers hit 6-of-11 passes for 28 yards and was the Patriots’ leading rusher with 46 yards. Carson threw for 35 yards on 5-of-9 passing. Evan Ausmer carried 5 times for 37 yards, and Cameron Fortson caught 3 balls for 23 yards.
Both teams begin region play next week. Vestavia Hills (2-0) takes to the road to take on four-time defending state champion Thompson, while Homewood hosts Helena.
“We’re healthy and hopefully we’ll be fresh next Friday, because we’ll need things to bounce our way and be really tough to have any chance,” Evans said.
Homewood is 0-2 after losses to rivals to begin the year, but the slate is clean for everyone entering region play.
“We just need something positive to happen right now. Everything from now forward matters, so we’ve just got to get back and try next week,” Berguson said.
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