Homewood football returns tomorrow evening when the Patriots take a short trip down the road to battle the John Carroll Catholic Cavaliers in the Battle of Lakeshore. Coming off a successful, yet gut-wrenching season in which they reached the third round of the playoffs, there are high expectations for this year’s team despite the loss of some key graduates.

Junior Will Myers will pick up quarterbacking duties after the graduation of Woods Ray, who leaves behind some large shoes to fill. Multiple collegiate offers, broken records and a thrilling playoff run decorate Woods’ senior year, but Myers is eager to take that first snap as the leader of the team. 

“I’m just going to look in the stands, and tell myself, ‘It’s your team now,’” Myers said.

Head coach Ben Berguson has no doubts about Myers’ ability to fill that void in the team and lead the Patriots this year. 

“He’s the best leader I’ve ever been around,” Berguson said. “He has the ability to walk into a room and take full control of that room. He’s a terrific leader and an elusive player.”

Myers plans to lean on the talents of his teammates to find success in his first year as the starter. 

“Our O-Line is going to be the strength of our offense,” he said, while also crediting the quality of their skill positions and the talent on the defensive side of the ball. 

Berguson echoed Myers’ praise of the offensive line and said, “We’re going to rely on our offensive line this week. We have two veterans in Jaxon Brooks and Jack Watson.”

He also highlighted some of the teams “really skilled defensive players” in Hayden Eldridge, Talton Thomas and Trust Darnell.

“Winning breeds winning, so you hope that that carries over into this year,” Berguson said about looking to use last years success to create momentum for this season. 

Berguson radiated excitement and confidence about the upcoming season, as did senior tight end Nicholas Hughes who said he and his teammates are simply eager to play and show what they can do. 

“We’ve got some weapons and we’re just ready to use them,” he said. “The whole team is excited to show the school who we are and what we do. [We are] just looking to show people what Homewood is really about.” 

Hughes said the team adopted the motto “Play for the guys beside you” and how important that has been with the preseason journey and nearing the beginning of the season.

Berguson also saw this team chemistry build in the off-season. 

“We really meshed well all summer and got better each week. We had a lot of question marks after having 30 seniors leave and having only 15 this year. A lot of questions got answered this summer.”