Homewood welcomed in the Pell City Panthers in the first round of the AHSAA 6A soccer playoffs at Waldrop Stadium. The Patriots scored early and never looked back as they cruised to a 10-0 first round victory.
Will Jackson scored 13 minutes into the contest to give Homewood a 1-0 lead early.
It wasn’t long until Homewood responded again. Two minutes later, Jackson Kittinger breezed by a Panther defender and assisted Charlie Herring who struck a scissor kick for an early 2-0 lead for the Patriots. That sent the Homewood fans up on their feet into insanity.
Jackson once again responded with a kick down the right side to put the Patriots up 3-0 with 17 minutes remaining in the first half.
Six minutes later Cooper Gillis shot one down the middle along with a Mac Webb goal to make it a comfortable 5-0 lead for Homewood.
Shortly after, Gillis got his second goal of the night with seven minutes remaining in first half. Homewood cruised into the locker room with a 6-0 lead. All the momentum in the world on their side.
The second half was just like the first. Homewood domination and no answer for Pell City. The game ended with a mercy rule with only a couple of minutes remaining.
Co-Captain Charlie Herring said the message going into the game was to not go in thinking it was an easy game.
“We heard a lot of talk from around the school saying ‘When are we going to play our next opponent?’,” Herring said. “We just had to keep on reminding our guys that Pell City is a great team and we have to beat them first.”
Homewood returns home and hosts Mountain Brook (18-2-3) in the second round Tuesday night.
Despite their history of excellence, head coach Julian Kersh isn’t intimidated by this matchup.
“We know they are talented on so many levels,” Kersh said. “It’s gonna be a battle but I do feel like we can come out with the win.”
