Lions overcome Homewood, clinch 2 seed
BIRMINGHAM – A few tweaks at halftime and the speed of Ethan Anderson helped push the Lions to victory on Friday night.
After a sluggish first half in which Homewood High School controlled play, Anderson returned the opening kickoff of the third quarter to tie the game. Briarwood took control with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns and won 21-18 at Lions Pride Stadium.
Briarwood (8-1, 5-1 in Class 6A, Region 5) took the ball to start the second half, but the offense wasn’t needed. Anderson took the kickoff inside his own 5-yard line and sprinted down the Briarwood sideline for the 97-yard touchdown to make it a 7-7 ball game.
“We came out and really executed well,” Briarwood head coach Matthew Forester said of his team’s second-half performance. “Ethan Anderson just had the jets and took off. It was really fun to see Ethan pushing that hard and all the guys making their blocks.”
Homewood (5-4, 3-3) got the game off to a strong start, marching 80 yards in 10 plays and scoring on a 39-yard pass from Woods Ray to Aron Marsch. It was the beginning of what would be a big night for Ray, before misfortune struck.
Ray accounted for almost all of Homewood’s offense in the first three quarters. Following Anderson’s kickoff return, the Patriots went to work. On the 16th play of a 19-play, eight-minute drive, Ray suffered a leg injury and would miss the rest of the game. Homewood finished that drive with a 20-yard J.C. Daniel field goal to go ahead 10-7.
“I hate it for Woods, he played his heart out,” Homewood head coach Ben Berguson said. “We don’t know his status right now, but we’ll find out tonight. We’ve got to have him, he was our whole offense.”
Ray completed 10-of-20 passes for 95 yards, but did most of his damage on the ground. Briarwood struggled to tackle the tall quarterback, as he went for 129 yards on 20 carries before going out.
Ray ripped off one of his biggest runs of the night in the second quarter, right after being sacked by Holden Patterson and Haddon Stubbs. But Homewood turned the ball over on downs later that drive.
Before halftime, Stubbs and Homewood’s Taylor Patterson had dueling interceptions to keep both offenses off the scoreboard.
Briarwood took the lead for good early in the fourth quarter, as Luke Reebals scored the first of two 1-yard touchdowns in the final period. The first one capped off a 13-play drive to make it 14-10. On Homewood’s ensuing possession, Seth Alford intercepted a pass to put the Lions right back in scoring position. Reebals scored again to make it 21-10.
Homewood kept battling, though. Briarwood fumbled the ball at midfield — with Henry Watson recovering for the Patriots — while trying to run out the clock and backup quarterback Harris Fowlkes led the Patriots down the field. His 18-yard run on fourth down kept the drive alive and he later hit Marsch for a 23-yard gain. Marsch scored on a 1-yard plunge, then Fowlkes hit Harvey Ray for the two-point conversion to make it 21-18.
The Lions recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.
Briarwood’s standout quarterback, Christopher Vizzina, did not have many opportunities on Friday night, but he was effective. He completed 9-of-13 passes for 84 yards and rushed for 37 yards. Reebals led the Lions with 18 carries for 55 yards. Reebals also had 43 receiving yards. Nic Dicen led Briarwood in receiving, catching four balls for 38 yards in his first action all season after a preseason ankle injury.
“They kept the ball a long time, so our offense had very few possessions. It was an ugly win, but it was a win,” Forester said.
Marsch was Homewood’s leading receiver, catching six passes for 82 yards. Charlie Reeves caught five balls for 39 yards. Fowlkes came on in relief of Ray and completed 4-of-10 passes for 40 yards.
The win secures the No. 2 seed in the region for Briarwood, assuring the Lions of a home playoff game in the first round.
“That’s always the goal,” Forester said. “The fact that we get first round at home, that is a big blessing.”
Homewood does not yet know its playoff fate, as the Patriots finish in a three-way tie for third with Chelsea and Shades Valley. Next week’s non-region matchups will play a role in deciding the tiebreaker.
“We wanted to control what we could control and possibly host in the first round of the playoffs,” Berguson said. “They practiced this week just like that. I thought we played really hard, we just lost Woods. He probably played one of his better games.”
Both teams wrap up regular season play next week with a non-region bout, as Briarwood heads to Corner and Homewood hosts Pelham.