Safeties lead Lions to shutout win
BIRMINGHAM -- Even in his 49th year as a coach, Briarwood Christian School head football coach Fred Yancey is still taking in new experiences.
Thursday’s accomplishment in the Lions’ 26-0 win over Fairfield was his team recording three safeties. Yancey said he’s never seen that in a game where he’s coached.
Junior defensive end Cole Garner got credit for being the first one to Tigers quarterback Omar Young in the end zone for one of those, but he credited his teammates for running the blitz perfectly so it opened up a gap for him to get a free shot at the quarterback.
Garner and his team’s defensive accomplishment came in weather conditions that a defense loves -- temperatures in the low 50s with a steady, but not torrential, rain and wind conditions of 10 to 15 miles per hour.
“That was fun to see our defense get rewarded by being able to score points,” Yancey said. “We’ve had a great defense this year and they enjoyed getting to play in this mess.”
Briarwood improved to 7-2 and finished Class 5A, Region 4 play with a 6-1 record. The Lions will host a first-round playoff game. Fairfield, which was eliminated from playoff contention, dropped to 3-6, 3-4. It was the Lions’ third shutout of the season. They bounced back from a 21-7 loss to Ramsay last week and have given up just 66 points in nine games.
“You can’t win games without the defense shutting it down,” Garner said. “I couldn’t be more proud of my guys.”
The safeties came midway through the second quarter, late in the third and early in the fourth.
“That was really impressive and it really allowed us to keep the ball away from them,” said Lions running back JR Tran-Reno.
Briarwood held Fairfield to 46 passing yards and minus-5 rushing yards. Mark Hand had an interception for the Lions.
Offensively, Tran-Reno rushed nine times for 95 yards, including a 2-yard touchdown run on the Lions’ first possession of the game. Luke Prewett ran 16 times for 87 yards, all but 11 coming in the second half, and scored on touchdown runs of 29 and 12 yards.
The key for Briarwood was playing a clean game while handling the wet football. Briarwood didn’t turn the ball over until late in the fourth quarter. Yancey credited center Landon Berg and sophomore quarterback Jonah Carroll for their consistency in handling the snaps.
“We’re so thankful for our artificial turf field,” Yancey said. “It was wonderful to play on. That was a lot of fun to play in that kind of mess. That was a unique experience to play in a mess like that. That was fun.”
Briarwood hosts Hueytown next Friday to close out the regular season.
“I’m excited,” Garner said. “We took a hard loss to Ramsay, but this was our game and we had to come back. I think we’re back and we’re good.”
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