Patriots finish off dominant playoff run
HUNTSVILLE -- The Homewood High School boys soccer team left no doubt once the playoffs started.
The Patriots finished off their perfect playoff run with a 2-1 win over McGill-Toolen on Saturday in the Class 6A state final at John Hunt Park.
"It feels great," said Yousef Nasser, MVP of the state tournament. "I've been dreaming about this since last year. It's been an honor to play with this team."
Nasser scored the second goal of the day for the Patriots, as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the contest. Nasser headed one into an empty net after Hardy Smith's attempt bounded off the crossbar. Homewood got on the board first with a Jacob Sitton header five minutes in.
"We always come out strong," Nasser said.
Head coach Julian Kersh was a player on the 2005 and 2006 Homewood teams that won state titles and often relayed stories from those years to his current team. But eventually, he told his team to go create its own chapter. It did just that, taking home the sixth state title in program history.
"I'm over the moon for them," Kersh said.
Nasser and Kersh spoke about the determination to win it all this year to not only fulfill the dreams of the 2021 team, but to also do it in honor of the 2020 team that had its season cut short.
Kersh said, "We wanted to make sure that wasn't a hollow promise."
On Saturday, McGill-Toolen cut the lead in half in the final minutes, but the Patriots hung on to seal the win.
Leading up to the final, Homewood's boys dominated Minor 8-0 in the first round and blew past Clay-Chalkville 11-1 in the second round. In the quarterfinals, Homewood knocked out Mountain Brook in penalty kicks after a scoreless regulation and overtime period.
On Friday in the semifinals, the Patriots got past Fort Payne 3-0. Bryan Sokell, Gage Estep and Nasser scored the goals for Homewood.
Homewood finished the year with an 18-3-3 record.
The girls nearly made it a clean sweep for the school, but they fell to St. Paul's 2-1 in a game that went to a penalty shootout.
Rika Kellen got Homewood on the board in the first half with a goal and the Lady Patriots took that 1-0 edge with them into the halftime break. St. Paul's began to threaten midway through the second half and finally notched the equalizing goal.
Homewood had opportunities in the final minutes of regulation, but the game went to overtime still knotted at 1-1. Two overtime periods settled nothing, leaving the championship to be decided in a penalty shootout. After Homewood's first shot of the shootout sailed high, St. Paul's never flinched and won 5-4 in penalty kicks.
The St. Paul's tying goal in the second half was the first goal surrendered by the Homewood girls in the entirety of the playoffs. To reach the final, Homewood beat Jasper and Shades Valley by identical 10-0 scores in the first two rounds. Homewood beat Chelsea 3-0 in the quarterfinals and took down Southside-Gadsden 3-0 in the semifinals on Friday.
The Lady Patriots finished the year with a 20-3 record.
John Carroll's girls advanced to the 4A-5A semifinals in Huntsville as well, but the Lady Cavaliers fell to Montgomery Academy 5-0 in the semis Thursday.