Homewood’s varsity football team (9-1) heads into its opening-round matchup with Pell City on a 4-0 winning streak and a region championship under its belt.
The team has performed well all season with only one crushing defeat against Mountain Brook. The Patriots responded, however, with a massive Oct. 17 victory against reigning 6A state champion Parker and a win the following week against Minor. The Patriots finished region play undefeated and enter playoffs at number five in the state poll rankings.
Such success is not the result of luck. In his 12th season coaching, head coach Ben Berguson explains that the team has had to overcome adversity time and time again. He believes building resilience all starts in practice.
“The team really realized the importance of having good practices,” Berguson said. “It carries over to Friday night when they play. Working on little things, just being sure we’re perfect for the game, because little things are what will get you beat if you’re not prepared for them.”
In the one loss, the team battled the Spartans all four quarters but ultimately came up short in overtime, losing by a Hail Mary play so wild it featured on ESPN’s Top Ten.
Although this loss was gut-wrenching, Berguson believes the experience will be beneficial in the long run. Not only did it unite the boys to bounce back, but they were also able to see their mistakes.
“You learn lessons from losses, and that helped us win the James Clements game, no doubt, because we had to come back and win it in the end,” Berguson said. “So we learned some valuable lessons during the Mountain Brook game.”
Mountain Brook was the first real test of the Patriots’ season. Starting senior receiver David Walden explained how they were able to improve their skills in practice.
“We overcame that by going to work the next day and really paying attention to all the details that we were missing,” Walden said. “We knew that we had a really good team in Parker two weeks later, and so we really wanted not to have that feeling again of losing overtime, and so we just pushed ourselves to train harder.”
After such a strong regular season, the team has the privilege of hosting the first two playoff games at Waldrop Stadium.
Although Homewood might have the home field advantage, Pell City is still a difficult opponent. Pell City compete in a region with Mountain Brook, Pinson Valley and Oxford. Their 7-3 season includes a victory over Mountain Brook when they held the Spartan to three points.
Specifically Pell City has a very physical team with noticeably fast linebackers that like to put a lot of pressure on the quarterback and attack the pocket. Senior running back Izaiah Smith leads the Panthers in rushing and is a threat on the ground.
“The key is winning up front early in the game to open up our passing game,” Walden said. “They play a lot of man coverage, and so we know that our skill positions are really good, and we just have to win some 50/50 balls and be better than they are. Stopping their run game and making them have to make big plays to beat us is going to be very important.”
Particularly in practice, there are certain ways that preparation needs to be made. Especially later in the season where things change and every moment could have a crucial effect. Walden explains what it looks like in practice now, preparing for the playoffs.
“We really have the playbook down perfectly, and so we’re just trying to speed up our pace. And it’s getting cold outside, and it’s changing with the time. It’s dark out there now we have the lights on, and so it’s just a different feel. We focus now at practice on if we’re ready to go and we’re crisp, and we’re just trying to speed up our play as fast as we can go,” Walden said.
Berguson said there was a discussion about moving the game to Thursday night, as rain is projected Friday. Homewood wants to play under ideal weather conditions in hopes the more prepared team will come out on top.
“I tried to move the game [up a night], but they didn’t agree on it,” Berguson said. “They want to play it rain. So to me, that tells me they feel like we’re the better team. And honestly, in this game, they’re really good on defense, and we need to be able to attack the perimeter, throwing the football. A dry field would be most ideal.”
Berguson believes in his team no matter the conditions. He points out a few guys on offense that have been key all year long.
“David Walden and Tomon Felton have shown great leadership all year,” he said. “And they just really need to play big in the playoffs. And I always say this, big time players make big time plays when you need them. And those are the two that can do that. And of course the QB Kaleb Carson, too, you know. We need Kaleb to perform.”
Walden, an obvious leader on and off the field, explained that certain situations call for different types of players, and that’s how the whole team can best contribute: Play the role that is needed of each player in that specific moment.
“I think just trusting the coaches, there’s a lot of packages where I’m not even in the game, to run like a heavy set and just get a first down with a few yards with our power running backs and stuff,” Walden said. “And so just trusting the coaches to call the right plays and have the right game script, and all we have to do is just go out there and execute, because we’re a really good football team when we do that.”
