Lions shut out Fairfield, remain perfect in region
Briarwood Christian took advantage of several mistakes by visiting Fairfield, and came away with a 27-0 shutout victory Friday night at Lions’ Pride Stadium.
The Lions, who won their third straight Class 5A, Region 5 game, scored twice off Tiger fumbles. One touchdown came when Briarwood linebacker Gabriel Russell ripped the ball out of Fairfield running back Tez Spencer’s hands, then ran 12 yards for the score with 1:15 left before halftime. The other came late in the game when the Tiger punter couldn’t handle a bad snap from center, giving the hosts great field position on the Fairfield 24-yard line. Fullback Wilson Hand scored five plays later on an 11-yard run.
Lions quarterback William Gray threw a pair of touchdown passes, one to Barrett Tindall from 12 yards out in the second quarter, and another to J.R. Tran-Reno for four yards in the fourth.
Though the Lions’ victory margin was somewhat lopsided, Fairfield was tough for the hosts to handle. In the end, the Tigers proved to be their own worst enemy — they fumbled the ball nine times, losing possession four times (including Russell’s strip-and-score), and also gave up an interception.
Three of the lost fumbles came in the first quarter, with Briarwood defensive end Jordan Harmon recovering two of them.
“They [Fairfield] hadn’t played a team that hits as hard as us and fights as hard as us,” Harmon said.
The Lions struggled to capitalize on the turnovers early on. Each of Fairfield’s first three drives of the game ended on lost fumbles, but Briarwood turned the first over on downs at the Tiger 26, and then fumbled the ball away on the second drive. On the third, in which Harmon recovered the fumble at the Fairfield 12, Briarwood actually lost yardage thanks to two sacks of Gray on third and fourth downs. The possession ended in a 32-yard field goal attempt by Noah Nall that was blocked.
The Tigers’ fight was pretty much what Lions head coach Fred Yancey had expected.
“I said to the coaches earlier in the week that it would be frustrating for the offense, but the defense could handle them,” Yancey said. “They could cover our wide-outs really well. They are pretty tough.”
Even with the struggles to convert the turnovers, the Lions still dominated field position. The ball did not even enter Briarwood territory until after a Tiger punt with 2:17 left in the first half, and Fairfield did not drive into the Briarwood red zone anytime in the whole game.
Defenses on both teams controlled the third period, in which only four first downs were gained by either side.
Tran-Reno led the Lions rushing attack with 65 yards on 13 carries. Gray was 4-of-9 in passing for 44 yards and two touchdowns, and was sacked five times.
James Reasor, who shared quarterback duties for Fairfield (2-2, 2-1 region) with Demetrius Buford, led his team’s rushing game with 10 carries for 39 yards. Spencer ran eight times for 22 yards.
Briarwood (3-1, 3-0 region) faces a stiff test in a non-region clash next week, as they travel to the northern part of Jefferson County to take on Mortimer Jordan, ranked fourth in Class 5A and last year’s state runner-up.
“I looked at some tape on them earlier today, and they look mighty good,” Yancey said.
Fairfield hosts neighboring Midfield next week.