Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
Homewood's Crawford Hope, right, set a cross-country school record on Saturday.
Over the course of the year, The Homewood Star will keep you up to date on the various Homewood and John Carroll high school athletic teams. For previous weekly updates, click here.
FOOTBALL
The Homewood football team had its scheduled region game against Woodlawn cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns within the Woodlawn program. Homewood earned its second forfeit win of the season. Homewood has an open date this week.
John Carroll dropped a tight one to Fairfield last Friday, as the Cavs fell 13-7 to the region foe. The loss dropped the Cavs to 2-2 overall and 1-2 in Class 5A, Region 5 play. This Friday, the Cavs travel to Moody for a rescheduled game from Week 1.
VOLLEYBALL
The Homewood volleyball team opened play last week at Thompson, one of the top teams in Class 7A. Thompson knocked off the Patriots in straight sets (29-27, 25-18, 25-20). Sarah Smith led the Patriots with 20 digs and two aces, while Olivia Brown led the offense with seven kills and added 13 digs.
Homewood was back in action on Tuesday and earned a Class 6A, Area 9 win over Briarwood in straight sets (26-24, 25-15, 25-11). Mackenzie Yoakum led the Patriots with seven kills and four aces. Alex Hershbine and Brown chipped in four kills and three digs each.
On Thursday, Homewood fell to Jasper in four tight sets (25-27, 25-19, 25-23, 26-24). Smith led the defense with 37 digs, three aces and a kill, followed by Haley Callaham with 14 digs and an ace. The offense was led by Brown with 14 kills and 11 digs, followed by Olivia Outman with three kills, 19 assists and eight digs.
The Patriots finished second in the Husky Challenge at Hewitt-Trussville on Saturday, defeating Springville (25-14, 25-15), Helena (25-21, 25-23), Gardendale (25-19, 25-21) and Westminster Christian (25-23, 25-16) before falling to Jasper (25-16, 26-24) in pool play and Thompson (25-19, 25-20) in the final. Here are some cumulative stats from the week:
- Smith: 136 digs, 11 aces, five kills, four assists.
- Brown: 64 kills, 52 digs, seven blocks, one ace.
- Outman: 113 assists, 41 digs, 10 kills, eight blocks, three aces.
This week, Homewood hosts Briarwood on Tuesday and Mountain Brook on Thursday in a pair of area contests. Over the weekend, the Patriots play in Spain Park’s HeffStrong Tournament. The Patriots are now 15-2 overall.
John Carroll defeated area opponent Bessemer City twice last week (25-10, 25-7, 25-7; 25-4, 25-7, 25-3) to improve to 11-10 overall and 5-0 in area play, securing the top seed in the area tournament. Here are some stats from the matches:
- Riley Kelner: 11 kills, 13 aces.
- Erin Jenkins: 10 kills.
- Helen Macher: 31 assists, eight aces.
- Zoey Williams: 14 aces.
This week, John Carroll travels to Hueytown on Tuesday and plays a tri-match against Briawrood and Oak Mountain on Thursday. Over the weekend, the Cavs play in Spain Park’s HeffStrong Tournament.
CROSS-COUNTRY
Homewood ran in The Southern Showcase in Huntsville on Saturday. Crawford Hope and Marin Poleshek led the boys and girls teams in their races. The girls also placed first in the junior varsity race. Alex Steltenpohl, Sophia Forrestall and Norah Nickoli led that team by all placing in the top 10. In addition to helping lead the boys team to a second-place finish, Hope’s performance of 14:41 became the second fastest all-time in Alabama history for high school 5K. This performance also surpassed Homewood’s school record of 14:55, which was the fastest time all-time in Alabama and held by Tyler Stanfield from 2001.
John Carroll ran in the Oak Mountain Invitational at Heardmont Park on Saturday. The Cavs boys finished 11th overall, while the girls were ninth.
— What else would you like to see mentioned? For any suggestions, feel free to email sports editor Kyle Parmley at kparmley@starnespublishing.com.
