Oh, Baby: PJP’s Maureen Homburg hopes to return after son’s birth
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Wyatt August Bupp arrived on Thursday healthy and happy. The 7-pound, 8-ounce baby boy, measuring 20 inches in length, created the possibility for a speedy return to the sideline for his mother.
That was at least the hope of Pope John Paul II girls soccer coach Maureen Homburg, who watched her Lady Jaguars storm into the Division III state quarterfinals with a dominating 7-0 victory on Monday over McGehee.
“If all goes well and everyone’s healthy, I’ll be back to coach the quarterfinal,” Homburg said in an interview Feb. 10.
Fourth-seeded Pope John Paul (16-2-1) will host fifth-seeded Catholic-New Iberia (17-6-0) on Tuesday at 1 o’clock with the winner advancing to the semifinals later in the week against either top-seed St. Thomas Aquinas or ninth-seed Calvary Baptist.
Homburg, in her 10th season at the Slidell-based school, was admitted to Slidell Memorial Hospital, where she was induced at midnight, setting into motion the arrival of Wyatt into their family with dad Justin and sister Stella.
Homburg, who goes by her maiden name, was aware that her pregnancy may create challenges once the postseason arrived.
Within a day of learning of the impending addition to her family, Homburg scoured the LHSAA’s website for important dates such as the playoffs for the upcoming soccer season. She met with her athletic director two weeks later with a plan in place for her potential absence.
With an original due date of Feb. 19, the day of the semifinals, PJP has proceeded to obliterate last year’s record and performance that included a first-round loss to Calvary Baptist.
The Lady Jaguars began the season 10-0 until a scoreless tie in the District 7-IV opener with St. Thomas Aquinas. They didn’t lose their first match until Jan. 13 – 1-0 setback against Northlake Christian – before winning three of their last four matches of the regular season.
PJP has been nothing short of dominant in the postseason, outscoring Rapides and McGehee 16-0, earning the right to host Catholic-New Iberia, winners of nine of its last 10 matches. The Lady Panthers, who advanced to last year’s state quarterfinals, have outscored their two playoff opponents, 12-0, and took a 4-0 regional win over St. Charles.
“The girls are playing really well right now,” Homburg said. “The team chemistry is really great. It seems like the girls are really starting to click. They’re showing heart. In our pregame talk before we played McGehee, we talked about being willing to run through a brick wall for the girl next to you. I saw that in their performance on Monday.”
Third-year assistant Ben Riviere ran practice Thursday and Friday and depending on Homburg’s availability, will do so again on Monday.
The Homburg lineage is deep and distinguished at Pope John Paul. Once you understand the family’s dedication to the private school, you get a better idea of Maureen – also known as Meaux – and her commitment to her students and the athletes she’s coached for the past decade.
The family’s patriarch, Benny Homburg, spent a total of 23 years coaching at PJP, serving as an assistant in football, basketball, and girls’ soccer. He led the Lady Jaguars to five district championships in soccer and a quarterfinal appearance and was inducted into the Louisiana High School Soccer Coaches Hall of Fame in 2022.
He unexpectedly died on Dec. 5 at the age of 75.
“That was tough,” Maureen said.
Benny’s legacy at the school also included his sons, Marc, who spent 10 years as head baseball coach, and Mike, who coached multiple sports at the school.
Maureen, a graduate of PJP, learned of the ‘Homburg Mentality,’ which was a mindset to counter adversity. It was a badge of courage for Benny, whose eulogy included a reference to his approach to life.
“It’s mind over matter,” she said. “You just push through.”
So, with Maureen expressing a desire to return to coaching her team in the playoffs, five days after delivering her second child, you get an idea of its origin.
Even her brother Marc, whom she works for at a construction company, provided Maureen with a faint timeline for a return to coaching.
“He says, ‘You can have the kid on Thursday, you’ll be back on Monday,’” she said. “We joke about it.”
Maureen shared a couple of other examples of the family’s perseverance that was instilled by her father.
Marc was playing for PJP’s football team at the same time Benny was coaching, and received an elbow to his nose that knocked it out of place.
Benny, in full 1950s or 1960s mode, reached into Marc’s facemask and shifted the nose back to its original position.
“My dad told him that your mom couldn’t see him like that,” said Maureen, repeating her dad’s instructions.
During a powerlifting meet, Maureen dislocated her hip. Instead of discontinuing the competition, Benny popped the hip back into place with specific instructions.
“He said to finish,” she said. “It was one of those things where there weren’t excuses, you just pushed through. It didn’t matter what you were going through, you just had to push through.”
But coaching after such a short turnaround to deliver a baby?
“It might be uncomfortable,” she said. “I might be in a little bit of pain, a little discomfort. If we were to win that match and I’m able to be on the sideline with my team, that discomfort or pain is more than worth it.”
PJP has one state championship to its credit in 2004.
In nine previous seasons, Homburg’s teams have found a roadblock in the quarterfinal round.
“It’s one of those years where everything falling into place would be great,” she said.
The Lady Jaguars were slowed a year ago by several injuries that contributed to a 6-6-5 season and first-round postseason exit.
Homburg said a cyst on the spine of her goalie sidelined her for the remainder of the season, hastening the move of one of her top offensive players to goalkeeper. An ACL tear resulted in the loss of another player.
“There were a lot of adjustments,” she said.
PJP returned this season with a different look, a team with more experience and greater maturity, thanks to four senior starters and a junior, and the results were soon to follow.
A 10-0 start included eight of the team’s 12 shutouts, before district play began in January.
The Lady Jaguars picked up promising wins over Division II’s Lakeshore (2-0) and Division III’s St. Michael the Archangel (3-0), sandwiched around losses to Northlake Christian and Division I’s Denham Springs, which was eliminated in Thursday’s regional round.
“Our January schedule was a lot tougher than the beginning of our season,” Homburg said. “That really helped prepare us going into the postseason. We had some really tough matches right before the playoffs with Country Day (3-1 win) and Denham Springs. Those were able to prepare us. It seems like we are peaking at the right time of the season.”
Senior Shealan Biniam has paced the team’s offense with 31 goals and nine assists. She had two goals in the team’s regional win against McGehee, and freshman Isabella delivered a hat trick.
The team’s strength has been in its back three defenders – senior center back Sophia Ontimara, with backs Bella Chianelli and Libby Leininger – in front of senior goalkeeper Lillian Juneau.
“Our back line has been extremely strong this season,” Homburg said. “The goalkeeper hasn’t been challenged much this year because the back line’s done such a great job.”
Each season, PJP holds a team Christmas party, gift exchange, and enjoys an assortment of games.
This year’s event turned into a surprise baby shower for Homburg, though, with her players and their families showering the coach with gifts for Wyatt – whose delivery was nearly two months away.
“Being pregnant, and a little bit older than I was last time, the coaching staff’s been great, very supportive,” Homburg said. “December was a hard month, pregnancy-wise. One of the first things I thought of was this due date was a week before my daughter’s due date, which fell the day after the boys’ state championship almost five years ago.
“I knew going into this season there would be conflict,” Homburg said. “When I met with my athletic director to tell him about the pregnancy, I gave him my wishes for the postseason if I wasn’t able to continue with the team.”
There’s been an abundance of support and well-wishes from her husband, PJP’s administration, faculty, and her players and their parents.
An excerpt on social media from the mother of one of her players certainly resonated.
“I hope one day the girls understand what this means from their coach as much as the moms understand,” the post read. “I think they’re (players) appreciative. Until you go through childbirth, I don’t think anyone understands. They’re great, super supportive.”
After the successful birth of her son, and no complications from the delivery, Homburg said there’s only one way this chapter of her life can finish.
“This is one of those seasons where I would like for a storybook ending after everything that’s transpired this year,” she said.