Griffis throws four TD passes in Patriots win
Carson Griffis tossed four touchdown passes, Derrick Underwood rushed for over 100 yards in the first half alone and the Homewood defense picked up some opportunistic turnovers as the Patriots pummeled Pelham 54-20 Friday night at Waldrop Stadium.
The Patriots (2-1, 1-0 Class 6A, Region 5) charged out to a 21-0 first-quarter lead and were never challenged.
Pelham dropped to 0-2, 0-1 in the region opener for both teams.
Patriots coach Ben Berguson had been anxious to see how his team would respond to last week’s 41-7 loss to Vestavia Hills.
“We got back to playing Homewood football tonight,” Berguson said. “I thought Carson did a great job leading this football team tonight, throwing four touchdown passes. You know I just thought it was a great team effort.”
Griffis went 13-of-22 passing for 221 yards.
Two of those scores went to Alec Marsch, for 29 and 47 yards, respectively.
“The first two weeks, we started off a little sloppy,” said Griffis. “I think we really cleaned some stuff up, got some combination routes to get some guys open. We’ve got some great receivers.”
Marsch said the team was definitely ready to get back on the field after the loss to Vestavia.
“The Vestavia game left a bad taste in our mouths,” Marsch said. “We wanted to do something about it this week. We’ve (Marsch and Griffis) always had great chemistry, we’ve been throwing since second grade, throwing on weekends and all through the summer.”
Underwood had a dazzling 62-yard burst for a touchdown and added a 6-yard TD run. He wound up with 115 yards on 16 carries.
Griffis also connected with Ronald Claiborne for a 23-yard score and with Fred Williams for a 13-yard TD.
NIck McCoy had a 6-yard TD run and Ty Harcher tossed a 4-yard TD to TyShawn Buckner late in the game.
Roger Castro kicked six extra points.
CD Daniels intercepted a pass that resulted in a touchdown and recovered a fumbled punt that led to another. Patrick Domingo picked off a Panther pass that led to another score. And the Pats defense took advantage of a bad snap on a punt to get great field position that led to the first score of the game.
Homewood and Pelham both stay in region play. Homewood travels to Briarwood Christian while Pelham hosts Jackson-Olin. Briarwood (0-2, 0-1) lost to J-O Thursday night.