Lions pound their way to victory over Wenonah
BIRMINGHAM - In a way, Briarwood Christian School’s football game plan for Friday’s game at Wenonah was pretty old-school. Three yards and a cloud of dust, as legendary college coach Woody Hayes liked to say.
Or in this case, a cloud of artificial-turf rubber pellets.
Whatever the substance, the Lions clawed their way through it, pounding their way through a young, undermanned Dragon squad and securing a 16-7 victory.
Senior running back Luke Prewett was the primary battering ram for the Briarwood offense, running the ball 24 times for 121 yards. There was nothing fancy at all about Prewett’s play; his longest run was 16 yards, but behind a stout offensive line he never lost yardage on any play, and the relentless assault wore down a Wenonah roster that lists more sophomores and freshmen than juniors and seniors.
“We said we’re going to take our big offensive line and pound the ball, and we’re going to let Luke run behind them,” Briarwood coach Matthew Forester said. “We said, ‘Let’s not pass it. Let’s run it and make it a short game.’”
Similarly, the Lion’s defense kept pressure on the Dragons’ two quarterbacks from start to finish, driving the starter Jayden Sanders — who was filling in for the banged-up Christopher Williams — out of the game in the third quarter and forcing first-year coach Daniel Flowers to put Williams back into the fray. That defense also accounted for the game’s first points, as they forced a fumble on a Wenonah punt snap that the hosts recovered in the end zone for a safety two minutes after the opening kickoff.
Special teams also stepped up with a blocked Wenonah field goal on their next possession in the first period.
Banged up or not, Williams found receiver Tyler Woods for a 26-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter. It was the only score for the Dragons and the longest play from scrimmage for either team in the game.
Briarwood scored its first touchdown with 8:52 left in the second quarter, as Tyler Paugh charged across the goal stripe from about two feet away. The other score came on a 19-yard pass from freshman quarterback Christopher Vizzina — substituting again for injured starter Jonah Carroll — to receiver Blake McKenna with 3:06 left before halftime.
The defense came up big once again for the visitors in the fourth quarter when they squelched any comeback hopes that Wenonah held. Cornerback Chase Travis came up with a big interception with 8:26 left in the game. Then on the Dragons’ final drive, on that began on their own two-yard line, Briarwood stopped it near midfield with less than a minute to play.
“We’ve been banged up on our defensive line — all of our seniors have been injured — so we had sophomores who really stepped up,” Forester said. “Cole Garner and Turner Murphy were seniors who were resilient enough to come out and battle. They were willing to play hurt and still give us maximum effort.”
Briarwood ran for 173 yards, and Vizzina was 6-of-9 passing for 40 yards, including the one touchdown. But their defense held Wenonah to just 65 yards rushing on 30 attempts, in large part thanks to seven tackles for loss. The Dragons completed 14 passes on 24 attempts for 138 yards.
The Lions improve their record to 2-2, and 2-1 in Class 5A Region 4. They go out of region play next week as they host Hartselle. Wenonah drops to 2-2, and 1-2 in Region 4.
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