Lions take break from region play

The Mortimer Jordan High School football team got two cracks at Briarwood last fall, and came up short both times.

Briarwood hopes that trend continues on Friday night, when the Lions entertain Mortimer Jordan at Lions Pride Stadium at 7 p.m.

Last fall, the two teams matched up twice — once in the regular season, and again in the Class 5A quarterfinals. The Lions won 23-14 in the regular season and came out on top again in the quarterfinals, shutting out the Blue Devils, 15-0.

In the quarterfinal game, a stalemate was broken late in the third quarter when Carson Eddy scored on a 30-yard reception from William Gray. The most memorable play from that game came on a fourth quarter possession, when running back JR Tran-Reno hurdled a defender on his way to the end zone.

A key to the shutout was containing star back Spencer Brown, who eclipsed 100 yards but was not allowed anywhere near the end zone on the evening.

This year, the Lions have a new quarterback and the Blue Devils no longer have Brown, a two-way player who also made things happen at the linebacker position.

But both teams are handling those departures with success. Briarwood enters the contest with a 4-0 mark, while Mortimer Jordan enters at 4-1, winners of its last three.

Mortimer Jordan has surrendered just 27 total points in those three games, wins over Springville, Corner and Fairview.

Briarwood is coming off of Fred Yancey’s 300th career win, a 23-6 victory over Region 5 opponent Fairfield.

“It’s always great to get any of them, but this one is pretty special,” Yancey said following the game.

The score was deadlocked at 6-6 until late in the second quarter before Briarwood pulled away. New Briarwood quarterback Michael Hiers threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Eddy and rushed for another, as the Lions took a 20-6 lead at the half.

Hiers finished with 199 yards on 13-of-17 passing, with Eddy having 107 yards on seven catches.

- Chris Megginson contributed to this report.