The top-ranked Homewood boys soccer team darted out to large lead in the second half against No. 2 Mountain Brook and fought off a late rally to capture a 3-1 victory over the Spartans in Tuesday’s Class 6A playoff match at Waldrop Stadium in Homewood.

“We’ve had some legendary playoff games against them in the last couple of years,” Homewood coach Julian Kersh said. “I have a ton of respect for their program but this year we felt if we come out and execute, we’ll be too much for them. And to their credit, they put us on our heels and came after us. Our guys weathered that storm and over the course of the game, our quality took it over.”

Homewood (19-2-3) took an opening punch from the Spartans as both teams failed to score until the Patriots’ Gid Malone scored his first goal inside the final two minutes of the opening half. Malone added his second goal in the 13 minutes of the second half – giving Homewood a 2-0 lead – while navigating chaos around the net.

“It was all about the mentality that we had in the locker room beforehand,” Malone said. “We wanted it so bad before the game and just knew we were going to win before the kickoff.”

Senior Will Jackson added the Patriots’ final goal almost 10 minutes later to shoot ahead 3-0 with a little more than 20 minutes remaining in the match.

Only three minutes passed before Mountain Brook’s Will Woodke scored the only goal for the Spartans (21-5-1), cutting the Homewood lead to 3-1 inside the 28th minute.

The match got a bit testy as both teams were served a yellow card before earning a second following a shoving match between a goaltender and offensive player.

GIRLS

Mountain Brook 3, Homewood 0

In the opening girls match, Mountain Brook scored an upset with the shutout of two-time defending champion Homewood, powered by a Langston Lily’s sixth hat trick of her career.

“Obviously, it was all a team effort,” Lily said. “Every single game we play against our best selves. Homewood has been our rival for many years and we haven’t been able to beat them in the playoffs in a long time. I’m so honored to be able to play with these amazing girls.”

Lily scored her first goal in the 27 minute of the opening half and the 12-3-4 Spartans carried a 1-0 lead into the break. It took only 11 minutes into the second for Lily to add her second goal and she earned the hat trick with 18 minutes left in the match.

“I scored a hat trick but the defense, midfield, forwards, they did everything else,” she said. “I just got the goals out of it.”

As aggressive as Lily was on the offensive end, the young Spartans, without a single senior, put up an impressive defensive display in shutting out a Homewood team that scored more than 80 goals this season.

“Doubt is probably too strong of a word, but there were questions about such a young team,” Mountain Brook coach Adam Johnson said. “That’s our secret weapon because they bought in from the very first day. Our leadership, our juniors, leading us are incredibly selfless and have set such an incredible example of sisterhood.”

Homewood finishes the season at 14-9-1.