Blitz doesn’t like to brag, but sometimes it is necessary.
In the preseason, Blitz looked over the SAC landscape.
Defending Class 4A state champion Bishop Dwenger? Yeah, pretty darn good.
Perennial power Snider? Not too shabby.
But Homestead…there was something about Homestead.
People scoffed when Blitz had the Spartans No. 1 in the area entering the fall. They asked Blitz, “What about Snider? Dwenger?”
No one is arguing now.
Homestead 49-36 victory over Snider on Friday night may look close at first glance.
Blitz is here to tell you it wasn’t.
The Spartans scored touchdowns on their first seven possessions of the game. The eighth? At the tail end of regulation. Luke Goode threw for 336 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for another. Braeden Hardwick rushed for 161 yards and two scores.
Need some more convincing? Homestead’s 49 points were the most scored by an SAC opponent against Snider since 2003 (55-45 loss to Harding).
The technical destruction of the Snider defense by Homestead was a thing of beauty, if you were an unbiased observer of course. Snider tried to mix it up with defensive looks, but Goode and the offense took what they saw and beat the Panthers in a variety of ways.
Drop two safeties deep? The Spartans went underneath or handed off to Hardwick, picking up six and seven yards a play. He finished with 170 yards on 25 carries.
Bring the safeties into the box? Goode went over the top, as he did on 4th and long in setting up a touchdown in the first half when he hit Jared Kistler to set up first and goal. Kistler finished with five receptions for 82 yards, only outdone by Griffin Little. Little finished his night as Homestead’s leading receiver, hauling in 10 receptions for 152 yards and two touchdowns.
Homestead has already been a technical team offensively, able to execute with precision and beat teams stronger or bigger than them. But now, the Spartans have the execution and the size and strength to do it all. Goode was rarely touched by a Snider defensive lineman on Friday, with the pocket staying intact on nearly all of his 35 pass attempts.
The Spartans defense struggled with the sideline to sideline speed of Snider, but as long as Homestead’s offense kept scoring, it didn’t matter.
Now, Homestead (5-0) controls the SAC, with a game against Carroll in two weeks appearing to be the lone threat. It also has made history, becoming the first team to beat Bishop Dwenger and Snider in back-to-back weeks since Bishop Luers did it in 2000.
It is an impressive position to be in for the Spartans, a team that has been on the cusp of SAC title contention since joining the league, but has never been able to put it together completely.
Homestead has proven the last two weeks that this year is different. This Spartans team is up to the SAC challenge.
Maybe folks should listen to Blitz more often?
These opinions represent those of Blitz and Outside the Huddle. No opinions expressed on Outside the Huddle represent those of any of our advertisers. Follow Blitz on Twitter at Blitz_OTH
1 Trackback / Pingback