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Homewood’s offense spit and sputtered, a bit like the rain in North Shelby County on Friday night.
But that was of no real consequence, as the Patriots defense shined in a 27-0 dominance of Briarwood Christian at Lions Pride Stadium.
Antarius Mitchell returned a fumble for a score, NIck Dutton’s interception set up another score and the Patriots didn’t allow the Lions a sniff of the red zone as ninth-ranked Homewood (3-1) improved to 2-0 in Class 6A, Region 5. Briarwood dropped to 0-3, 0-2.
“It was sloppy, but it was a region win,” Patriots head coach Ben Berguson said. “I thought their defensive front was very good and gave us all kinds of problems tonight. We just never got any consistency.”
Defensive coordinator Freddy Lawrence was pleased with his charges’ efforts.
“Played hard all night, played their hearts out,” Lawrence said. “All 11 went to the ball, made some big plays, big sacks. Played well as a group.”
Briarwood had some tricks in its bag -- inside screens, shuffle passes -- but the Patriots were ready for them and made good plays on deep passes in the secondary.
The defense also provided great field position.
The first Patriots score came after pinning Briarwood deep in its own territory. Homewood set up shop after the Lions' punt at the Lions 49. It took eight plays -- including some nice runs by newcomer Chestin Smith -- to cash it in. After Smith converted a fourth-and-1 with a 6-yard pick up out of the wildcat, Derrick Underwood smashed in from 16 yards out. Roger Castro’s point-after made it 7-0 with 31.3 seconds left in the opening quarter.
The Patriots held again and drove it back down the field, but this time Underwood was stopped on a fourth-and-1 at the Lions’ 5.
But the defense picked up the offense again seconds later when the ball popped free and MItchell grabbed it up at the 25 and scooted into the end zone. The PAT failed and Homewood led 13-0 with 6:31 in the half.
The rain picked up then, and the Pats took the lead to the locker.
In the third quarter a promising drive by the Patriots ended in a fumble. But the defense stepped up again.
Lions quarterback William Gray was hit as he threw the ball and Dutton gathered in his first varsity interception.
“I thought I was going to drop it,” Dutton said. “I fumbled it for a few seconds. But overall, we played great tonight, we had great effort, I’m just proud of my teammates.”
The pick by the senior linebacker with 1:12 left in the third quarter led to a drive for the Patriots’ third score. After a pass interference call, quarterback Carson Griffis hooked with Alec Marsch for a 17 yard gain. After Smith had a couple of tough runs to get it down close, Griffis kept it off the left side for the final yard. Castro’s kick made it 20- with 9:20 left.
The Patriots’ salty defense stopped the Lions again, and Homewood put the nail in the coffin with a short drive, with Underwood darting 16 yards for his second score of the night with 4:04 left. Castro booted through the final point.
The Patriots return home for homecoming against region foe John Carroll Catholic on Friday.
