Photo by Erin Nelson.
Homewood’s Louie Nanni (1) passes the ball as he’s guarded by McAdory’s Dee Fuller (3) during a Dec. 7 game at Homewood High School. The Patriots have six juniors on this year’s squad, and players such as Nanni are showing vast improvement.
It would have been easy for the Homewood High School boys basketball team to throw in the proverbial towel this season.
The Patriots have had to deal with plenty of challenges, the protocols necessitated by COVID-19 and the team’s youth chief among them. In a vacuum, it’s difficult to contend with each of those. In combination, it has proven a tall task.
There are no seniors on this Homewood basketball team, no built-in leaders to guide the team through the uncharted waters of playing sports amid a pandemic. There was also hardly any returning varsity experience to this year’s team outside of Woods Ray and Carter Vail, who both contributed as freshmen a season ago.
But head coach Tim Shepler has been inspired by what he has seen from his young team and its willingness to continue pushing forward.
“They’re battling and trying and getting better and fighting,” he said.
The proof of improvement is in some of the team’s final results. While Homewood is not a program built on moral victories — the Patriots won the state title just five years ago — there is something to be said for a team that lost to Class 7A powers Spain Park and Vestavia Hills early in the season by convincing margins. The Patriots have since played those teams again and shrunk those margins of defeat significantly.
The truth is that Homewood has struggled on the offensive end for much of the season but managed its way to a 7-11 record through Jan. 19. Shepler believes the record would be closer to the .500 mark had some games not been canceled over the first half of the season.
“They’re learning how to compete,” Shepler said. “Our goal is: Can we turn a corner and turn those close losses into wins and get over the hump? That’s kind of where this group is.”
The Patriots have six juniors on this year’s squad, with Donte Bacchus as the team’s leading scorer and guys such as Louie Nanni showing vast improvement as well. Christian Thompson is someone Shepler said is representative of the whole team, in that he is a player only learning and scratching the surface of what he can be in the future. Thompson is the Patriots’ leading rebounder and becoming more of a valuable post presence with each game.
As the Patriots head into postseason play, Shepler believes that on the right day, his team has what it takes to advance out of the area tournament as one of the top two teams. Mountain Brook is likely the favorite, but none has a clear edge over the other between Homewood, Chelsea and Briarwood.
“I’m really proud of them, but they’ve got to continue to learn how to compete and battle and believe in each other and grow as a team,” he said.
REMEMBERING ‘GRANDY’
On behalf of the Homewood High School basketball program, boys head coach Tim Shepler wanted to honor and recognize David Clark, a longtime supporter of Homewood athletics. Clark, referred to as “Grandy,” passed away Dec. 23 at the age of 87.
Clark hosted the Homewood boys basketball team on its preseason retreats every year with open arms and was a strong advocate for the Patriots’ program. Four of his grandsons were associated with the Homewood football and basketball programs as well.
“Grandy has been a great friend of Homewood athletics and in particular Homewood basketball,” Shepler said. “He was an amazing person, an amazing believer and always opened up his house.”
