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For Head Coach Mike Wallace, the story of Briarwood’s 2013 5A State Championship starts the day before the title match.
“On Friday (May 10) when we faced Athens it was like we were in the finals,” he said. “It was the No.1 and No. 2 seeds in the state up against each other, and one of us was going home without the plaque.”
Wallace said he told his team that on every trip through the AHSAA playoffs there’s always a bullet to dodge, and Athens was theirs. The Lions escaped with a 1-0 victory.
“You’ve got to give (Athens) a lot of credit,” he added. “They were absolutely pounding our goal.”
After sending the Black Bears home, Briarwood carried its confidence into the Championship the next day, May 11. But Wallace said things were off for the team as it took the field against St. Paul’s Episcopal from Mobile.
“For some reason, our guys decided to change game up and play long ball,” he said. “It was driving me crazy. I told them, ‘You’re not accomplishing anything.’”
Then, with halftime quickly approaching, something clicked.
“It was like the light bulb came on,” Wallace said. “St. Paul had dictated the way played for 25 minutes, but for the rest of the game we stuck to short passes and moved the ball around extremely well.”
Briarwood took a 1-0 lead into halftime and scored again after the break. After that, Wallace was able to get all the team’s players on the field – including all 13 senior members.
“The chances of Briarwood having 13 seniors on a team is unheard of,” Wallace said. “To have that many at the same time means there’s a lot of leadership and experience. It really made it special when won.”
Briarwood's Soccer championship in 2013 is its fourth in school history.
