Patriots battle region leaders

UPDATE (8:50 p.m., Oct. 5): The game has been moved to Birmingham's Legion Field from its original setting of Lawson Field, according to the Homewood High School athletics department and Birmingham City Schools.

The Homewood High School football team needed that 45-0 win over John Carroll last Friday night.

“It’s a huge confidence builder. We were awfully down last week after the Helena loss, but hopefully we’ll recover here and have a lot of confidence going into Ramsay,” Berguson said after the game. “We still have a chance of winning the region championship if we can upset them.”

Ty Hatcher threw three touchdown passes for the Patriots and the defense stifled the Cavaliers on homecoming night.

Wide receiver TyShawn Buckner hauled in a 37-yarder, which Hatcher threw in the second quarter while scrambling to his right out of the pocket.

“I told TyShawn before, I was like, ‘Hey, you’re going to be open on this,’ and he sure was,” Hatcher said, “so I just let him have it, and he made a play for me down the field.”

Logan Padgett, a sophomore, reeled in a 56-yarder. Padgett caught the ball about 25 yards from the line of scrimmage and sprinted into the end zone, shedding a would-be tackler along the way.

Homewood’s defense, meanwhile, pitched its first shutout since blanking John Carroll 35-0 in 2015.

“I was really proud of the effort tonight,” Berguson said. “I was really proud of our defense getting the shutout.”

The Patriots stifled John Carroll’s rushing attack, which forced the Cavs to rely heavily on the arm of junior quarterback Bailey Mara. Mara went 11-of-24 passing for 145 yards, but he tossed a pair of interceptions that were snatched by Homewood defensive back C.D. Daniels.  

“Whatever I can do to make my team win,” Daniels said of his performance.

Both of Daniels’ interceptions led directly to Homewood touchdowns, as did a fumble recovery by defensive lineman Antoine McGhee. McGhee, whom Daniels praised highly after the game, recovered a fumble in the Patriots’ end zone to stave off a John Carroll scoring threat in the second quarter.

But if the Patriots are going to win Class 6A, Region 5, like Berguson suggested they could, they would have to start by knocking off region leader Ramsay, who sits at 4-1 overall, 3-0 in Region 5.

Ramsay suffered its first loss of the season last week at Grayson (GA), 38-6, but the Rams have been impressive in their first season at the 6A level. Their closest margin of victory through their first four games was a 16-point win over Pinson Valley in the opener.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday at Legion Field in Birmingham.