Tonight the Homewood Patriots battle for their first regional championship in six years: a showdown with the Pelham Panthers (4-3, 3-1, 2nd in 6A R3).

Homewood (5-2, 4-0, 1st in 6A R3) boasts a perfect 4-0 record in regional play. Quarterback Woods Ray has found his go-to guy in wide receiver Jackson Parris, who is top 20 in Alabama for overall receiving yards. The Patriots’ offense has three players averaging more than 35 yards on the ground per game in Calyb Colbert, Mondrell Odell and Ray. Sophomore outside linebacker Talton Thomas has come into his own with 58 tackles, 3.5 sacks and 1 interception. Thomas leads the Patriots in all 3 statistics.  

Sitting just behind Homewood, Pelham has a chance to knock the Patriots off of their top spot in Group 6 region 3. Similar to Homewood, the Panthers have won many games in close fashion. Quarterback Clayton Mains is gritty and is clearly willing to put his shoulder down for the team. He leads the Panthers in passing and rushing yards.

Aside from Mains, wide receiver Darius Copeland leads Pelham in overall receiving yards at 106.2 per game on the season. Defensive back Ethan Hill has four interceptions on the season, which puts him in the top 20 for the state of Alabama.

The game kicks off at 7 p.m. at Pelham High School. The Patriots are 5-point underdogs.