H-F Dominick Jones 2
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H-F High football takes two wins into homecoming weekend

Craig Buzea, head football coach at Homewood-Flossmoor High School, likes what he sees in his varsity team as they prepare for the H-F homecoming game at 7 p.m. on Friday. The team is off to a 2-0 start.

  H-F High quarterback Dominick Jones defends
  his position.
(Provided Photo/Visual Image
  Photography)
 

 

Craig Buzea, head football coach at Homewood-Flossmoor High School, likes what he sees in his varsity team as they prepare for the H-F homecoming game at 7 p.m. on Friday.

“We feel like we’ve built our program to be one of the top programs in the state, and we hope this year will be no exception,” he said.

This is the ninth football season Buzea has been head coach. The previous eight years the team has been in the playoffs. They competed in the state championship game in 2014, made it to the semi-finals two years and the quarter-finals five years.

This season opened with a 34-30 victory in overtime on Aug. 24 in Michigan City, Indiana. Then the team traveled to East St. Louis, winning 34-14 over Lutheran North High School of St. Louis in the Gateway Classic Sept. 1. The competition pitted Illinois teams against St. Louis teams. 

H-F will be up against Stagg High School in the homecoming game. Of the nine games in the regular season, only four games will be on the H-F field. H-F will be the visiting team for the match-up against Lincoln-Way East on Sept. 28. Lincoln-Way East was the only team to defeat H-F in regular play in the 2017 season and went on to win the state championship.

H-F’s coaching staff worked with players during the summer months, meeting five hours a day for 25 days. Players spent time in the weight room and on the field for training.

Buzea admits the program is intense, both on and off the field. The nine games in the regular season are the topping to all the meetings, practices and reviews team members put in.

“We do a lot of video. We film every practice. The coaches watch every practice film and we send out video” to players giving them pointers for improvement, Buzea said. “They are required to watch that, and a lot of times we have quizzes and tests” based on videotaped practices and games.

“To be in our program, they have to be self-motivated because it’s one of those things that to do what we ask them to do they have to have something intrinsically inside them to want to succeed,” he stressed. “We try not to monopolize their time, but it is a tremendous amount of time they put in.”

Academically players must meet Illinois High School Association rules and be passing in five classes.

The H-F football team has three players in quarterback position. Buzea said he will decide for each game who gets the call. The returning starter is junior Dominick Jones. Also on the roster are seniors Kahlid Lamarre and Cameron Wright.

Also returning on the offensive line are senior Jack Schmitz at tight end; senior Leon Tanna at running back; junior Denzel Bryant at offensive line and senior Maurion Scott, a three-year starter at wide receiver.

“Defense looks to be a strong part of our game,” Buzea said. “We bring a lot more defensively than offensively. We have a lot of young kids on the offensive side of the ball.”

Returning starters in defense are senior Isaiah Coe, senior Charlie Brooks and senior Caveon Harris. 

Returning linebackers are seniors Justin Whiteside, Kellen Williams and Gerrell Jackson.  The secondary includes senior Wynston Russell.

For the first time in his H-F career, Buzea has a freshman on the varsity team. Malyk Jones came to the H-F Futures Camp in spring and coaches were impressed by Jones’ talent and decided “he’s a keeper.”

Working with Buzea are offensive coaches Tom Cicero, Alex Pratt, Daron Williams, Eric Shrieber and Bart Czachor with defensive coordinator Zac Wells and coaches David James, Josh Blair, Matt Ramos and Josh Forney.

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