Lions shut out Etowah, move on to semifinals
BIRMINGHAM -- This game was supposed to be close, a knock-down-drag-out playoff game in the November cold.
The Briarwood Christian School football team had other plans.
The top-ranked Lions rolled to a 31-0 victory over No. 5 Etowah at Lions Pride Stadium on Friday night. For the second consecutive season, Briarwood (13-0) will play in the Class 5A semifinals. The Lions will host St. Clair County next Friday, which defeated No. 4 Wenonah 27-26 in overtime.
“I thought we hit on a lot of cylinders tonight,” said Briarwood head coach Fred Yancey. “Certainly our kicking game was terrific tonight. Everything we did kicking-wise was just what we wanted. No bad plays on the kicking game. Defensively, they played well, got the goose egg. That means they had to play real hard because that’s a good offensive team that we played against. Offensively, we sputtered some but we were capable. When we hit our big plays we were pretty good.”
The Lions started fast. On Briarwood’s third offensive snap, quarterback Michael Hiers found a wide-open Noah Whatley for a 32-yard touchdown just three minutes into the game. Noah Nall kicked a 27-yard field goal to put the Lions up 10-0 near the end of the first quarter.
Hiers connected with Luke Prewett for an 18-yard touchdown two plays after a Cade Dickinson interception for the Lions, who led 17-0 at halftime.
Carson Eddy scored on a 5-yard run up the middle on the first play of the fourth quarter, and JR Tran-Reno added a 28-yard scoring run with 8:08 to play to give Briarwood a 31-0 lead.
Etowah (11-2) totaled 181 yards, and just 57 of those came in the second half. The Blue Devils passed for just 27 yards in the game. Etowah totaled 11 first downs in the game, seven of which came in the first half.
“We came out and executed,” said Briarwood linebacker Gabe Russell, who recovered a fumble and returned it 32 yards.
Four of Briarwood’s 11 drives in the game started in Etowah territory. Of the seven other drives, Briarwood’s average starting field position was its own 35-yard line.
“I have to give a shoutout to the defense because it felt like every time we got the ball, we were like to midfield,” Eddy said. “That makes it easy on us that we know we have a defense we can rely on.”
Hiers completed 11-of-18 passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns. He threw one interception and lost a fumble. Eddy caught five passes for 111 yards and added the touchdown run. Tran-Reno rushed nine times for 38 yards and a score. He caught three passes for 55 yards.
For Etowah, Derickey Wright completed 5-of-13 passes for 27 yards and an interception. Cory Thomas rushed 14 times for 81 yards, while Caleb Horton amassed 72 yards on 17 carries.
Yancey is happy to be hosting the Class 5A semifinals against St. Clair County.
“If you’re fundamentally sound and have got guys that are pretty talented, all that adds up to being hard to beat,” Yancey said. “Right now we’re hard to beat. That’s the deal. We’re not perfect. We are beatable, but we’re hard to beat right now. We just want to get a little bit better.”
Briarwood Christian defeated St. Clair County (10-3), its Class 5A semifinals opponent, 31-6 on Oct. 6.
“I’m expecting another battle and hopefully we can make the plays to come out on top,” Russell said.