Patriots hold off Minor

The Tenacious Tigers of Minor proved true to that moniker, but the eighth-ranked Homewood Patriots (4-1, 3-0 Class 6A, Region 5) proved to be too much for the home team as the Patriots came away with a 20-15 win at Tony Lunceford Field at Minor Stadium on Friday.

Minor (2-3, 2-1) cut a 13-3 lead at the half to four points late in the third quarter and to the final five-point margin with 2:40 to play, but an onside kick was recovered by the Patriots and they ran out the clock for the win.

“That was a huge region win for us on the road,” Homewood coach Ben Berguson said. “They are a good football team.

“I thought again this week our defense was outstanding. I thought our offensive line was much better this week too. I saw a noticeable difference in those guys over the last couple of weeks.”

Derrick Underwood had another good game at running back, but it was Patriots quarterback Carson Griffis who did some real damage early and then late in the game.

He led a drive at the beginning of the fourth quarter with the Pats leading 13-9 that put the game away.

He gashed the Tigers up the middle for a pair of 11-yard bursts, mixed in a 10-yard completion to Alec Marsch to move the ball inside the 20. Underwood did his thing with a couple of carries, and Griffis cashed it in with a 3-yard push into the end zone. Roger Castro’s extra point made it 20-9.

Though Minor managed to score once more, the Homewood defense forced Minor to use too much of the clock, then Griffin Gentry sacked the quarterback on a two-point try.

“All week we decided Carson had to rush for over 50 yards for us to win this game and he did that,” Berguson said. “Carson did a heck of a job tonight. We basically spread them out and let Carson run it up the middle.”

Griffis said, “We knew they had a great defense and couldn’t just outpower them … figured  we’d spread them out, use our speed.”

One of the key runs in that fourth-quarter drive was Griffis’ 11 yard bolt on fourth-and-3 at the Minor 30.

“It was just me back there in ‘empty.’ We kind of knew coming out of halftime that we could have that play and have it at a key moment, and so called it up and my linemen got  me some great  blocks and got the first down.”

The Patriots defense was tasked with keeping a couple of Minor’s speedy athletes -- especially Jaylond Adams -- from making explosive plays, and by and large defensive coordinator Freddy Lawrence’s troops did just that.

A big part of Minor’s offense was Jacure Jackson’s short passes to Adams in space with a blocker in front of him.

“We wanted to keep good numbers on both sides and rally tackle him when he got the ball because he’s such a great player,” Lawrence said. “We kept them away from making the big play all night, made them grind it out.”

After teams swapped field goals in the first quarter, the Pats stopped a promising TIgers drive when Aaron Phillips picked off a pass and brought it back to the Homewood 41. That seemed to spark the offense, as Underwood cracked off a 20-yard gain, Griffis punched out runs of 9 and 11 yards, setting up Underwood for another blast from 20 yards for a touchdown. Castro added the extra point for a 10-3 lead.

Homewood closed out the first half scoring with a short drive that resulted in Castro’s second field goal, a 37-yarder with 3:45 before the break.

Minor moved down the field one last time in the half, but the Patriots stopped Minor on fourth-and-2 in Patriots territory to send the teams to the lockers with Homewood leading 13-3.

Defenses kept the game that way until Minor broke through with a 2-yard run by Adams, but Homewood blocked the PAT, leaving the score at 13-9 after three quarters.

Griffis added his rushing TD and when his Minor counterpart Jackson scored on a 16-yard fourth-down run, it was too little too late for the tenacious bunch.

Now the Patriots can turn their attention to a region showdown next week with Walker in Jasper. The Vikings were 5-0 and 3-0 in the region and tied with Homewood atop Region 5 entering Friday’s play. But Briarwood Christian pulled a stunner at their homecoming, knocked off the Vikings 15-7 and gave Walker its first region loss.