Lions win opener at Fort Payne

FORT PAYNE -- Three weeks ago, this game wasn’t even a thought, but with each school having games canceled due to COVID-19, Briarwood Christian School made the trip to Fort Payne High School to open the 2020 season and walked away with a 28-20 win.

“In a lot of ways it was a celebration that life is beginning to return to a new normal, and we talked a lot about being grateful,” said second-year Briarwood head coach Matthew Forester. “All across the state they hadn’t played at all. That’s a tough thing to go in there. You think you’re good because you’ve played against each other, but now you have an opponent. We knew there would be things we’d need to fix from a scheme or an assignment. I credit our coaches and our players for being adaptable tonight.”

Briarwood took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on a pair of Tyler Waugh touchdowns. While the Lions stopped the Wildcats on fourth-and-inches on their first series, Fort Payne answered with 13 straight points, adding some excitement in the season-opener.

“I respect Fort Payne. We knew it would be close and come down to the very end, because of the kind of coach Coach Elmore and how good of a program Fort Payne is,” Forester said. “I think we did surprise them a little bit in the beginning and got them on their heels.”

After giving up a Fort Payne touchdown with 9:41 to play in the second quarter, Briarwood posted a red zone stop inside the 10 to set up a 24-yard field goal by Alex McPherson, making it a 14-10 game. Less than 90 seconds later, The Lions defense stood strong again, forcing what would have normally been a punting situation near midfield, but McPherson drilled a 56-yard field goal to cut the score to 14-13, 4:04 before the half.

“I was told he kicked a 60-yarder in pregame warmups, and we knew last year he was impressive,” Forester said. "That 56-yarder was a rocket.”

Needing an answer, Briarwood turned to junior running back Luke Reebals, who created a 46-yard touchdown run to push the Lions’ lead to 21-13 with 1:45 to play in the opening half.

“Luke did a great job of really battling, being patient, finding the holes and being a tough runner. That’s what stood out. He got a burst, but he was tough enough to break some tackles,” Forester said. “It’s all about big plays, and that was one of the turning points of the game. The fact we were able to score and get a little bit of separation really helped the team mentally prepare for the second half and the battle that was about to take place.”

Fort Payne returned the kickoff across midfield and pushed down inside Briarwood’s 5 in the final seconds of the second quarter, but a few busted plays helped the Lions keep the Wildcats out of the end zone to carry their 21-13 lead into halftime.

Briarwood held the Wildcats on the first series of the third quarter, forcing the first McPherson punt of the night. The Lions quickly found themselves in Fort Payne territory on a deep pass from Christopher Vizzina to Nicholas Dicen to the 5-yard line. Two plays later, Riley Margene took a direct snap to punch the ball into the end zone to extend Briarwood’s lead to 28-13 with 6:49 to play in the third quarter.

Both teams saw long touchdown plays called back due to penalties, as an ineligible receiver call negated a 48-yard touchdown pass for Fort Payne with 30 seconds left in the third quarter and personal foul penalties negated a 74-yard touchdown pass for Briarwood in the fourth.

Fort Payne quarterback J.D. Blalock broke a 24-yard run to the Briarwood 25, and then hit Dalton Posey for a pass inside the 5 to set up a 5-yard touchdown run by Hunter Love with 3:44 to play. McPherson’s PAT made it a 28-20 game.

It wasn’t long before Fort Payne was back in Briarwood territory, taking over on downs at its own 40 before Blalock scrambled across midfield. The Wildcats set up first-and-10 at the 13 with 67 seconds on the clock, but Briarwood’s defense held strong, running down the clock, and breaking up a fourth-and-6 pass in the end zone as time expired.

Briarwood (1-0) is scheduled to host Spain Park (1-0) for its home opener at Lions Pride Stadium on Aug. 28. It will be the third meeting all-time between the two neighboring schools and first since 2009.