Indians outlast Homewood in low-scoring game
HOMEWOOD — Taurus ran more like an F-150.
Taurus Chambers, the Pinson Valley High School running back, tallied 80 of his 92 rushing yards in the second half to help No. 8 Pinson Valley win 21-13 at No. 10 Homewood at Waldrop Stadium on Friday.
Chambers, a junior, scored on touchdown runs of 2 and 5 yards to lead the Indians (3-2). Six of Chambers’s 18 carries in the second half went for first downs.
“That’s what he’s best at,” said Pinson Valley head coach Lee Guess. “The longer the game goes, the harder he goes. That’s why he’s our workhorse. He’s the most calm, collected and most unselfish player ever. He doesn’t say a word about how many touches he gets or doesn’t get. He doesn’t care what the play call is. He’s just wanting to work and help us in any way he can, and I love having players like him.”
Chambers scored the first touchdown of the game early in the first quarter, on his first carry, four plays after Homewood quarterback Woods Ray was intercepted by Tevis Metcalf.
Homewood (4-2) cut the deficit to 7-3 by halftime on a 23-yard field goal by Whit Armistead. Chambers found the end zone from 5 yards out on fourth-and-1 on the opening drive of the second half, a march that took 4:26 off the clock across 11 plays.
Homewood answered with a long drive of its own, a 10-play, 69-yard drive capped by a 6-yard touchdown from Ray to Charlie Reeves. Armistead split the uprights from 34 yards out midway through the fourth quarter to cut the Pinson Valley lead to 14-13. Another 11-play drive that lasted 4:20 ended in points for the Indians when quarterback Cam Jennings connected with Amare Thomas for a 23-yard score down the sideline.
“It was a playoff type game, and we needed that right there because we’ll be in that sometime in the next six or seven weeks,” said Homewood head coach Ben Berguson. “They’ve got a really good football team.”
Homewood turned the ball over on downs in its attempt to come back, and Chambers rushed five straight times for 22 yards to run the clock down.
Ray finished 9-of-27 for 122 yards with the one touchdown and one interception. Jackson Parris led the Patriots with 56 yards on three receptions. Hunter Drake grabbed three passes for 55 yards, and Reeves finished with 11 yards and a touchdown on three receptions. Mondrell Odell led the rushing attack with 12 carries for 50 yards.
“I never thought Woods could get in a good rhythm tonight because they are that good,” Berguson said. “They made plays when they needed to.”
Homewood finished with 224 total yards. Pinson Valley totaled 241 yards. Maxy Salazar recovered a first-half fumble for Homewood, and Rod Ivy got one for Pinson Valley.
“The big thing with us tonight was our defense. Our defense played really well tonight. We didn’t give up the big plays we’ve given up the past couple weeks," Berguson said.
For the Indians, quarterback Keywone Posey finished 9-of-17 for 84 yards in the first half. Cam Jennings played the second half and was 5-of-8 for 46 yards and a touchdown. DeMarion Hatton led the receivers with six catches for 61 yards. Thomas caught six passes for 43 yards and a score.
“Homewood is always going to play consistent, smart and basically continue to grind a game out,” Guess said. “If you give them a chance to basically make plays they’re going to make you hurt. I don’t think they had too many big plays, but we gave them too many opportunities.”
Homewood takes its open date next week. Pinson Valley hosts Huffman in a Class 6A, Region 6 game.
“I’m sure the film will show us a lot we need to see, and we’ll take what we can away from it and get back into region play and hopefully get a chance to wrap up with a No. 2 [seed],” Guess said.