Lions withstand Mortimer Jordan rally

BIRMINGHAM – Cade Dickinson knew what was coming and he didn’t miss his opportunity.

The Briarwood Christian School defensive back made a game-sealing interception with 1:20 remaining to clinch a 25-17 win for the Lions over Mortimer Jordan on Friday night at Lions Pride Stadium.

Dickinson, a junior, got the look he expected.

“The corner was in a trail technique, I was over the top of him, and if he threw it over the shoulder, I had it. That’s what we did,” he said.

In layman’s terms, Dickinson cheated over from his safety position and cut off the deep pass from Mortimer Jordan quarterback Kourtlan Marsh. It was his second interception of the evening. His first came on a similar look in the first quarter, and it thwarted an early Blue Devil scoring chance.

“Same thing,” he said of the looks he saw on both interceptions.

The fact that it was a one-possession game is a testament to Mortimer Jordan, which battled back after going down 15 points late in the third quarter.

"(That game) was a lot of fun to play,” said Briarwood head coach Fred Yancey. “The kids enjoy good competition, and Mortimer Jordan came out and gave us all we could deal with.”

Class 5A No. 1 Briarwood (5-0) scored on a 25-yard pass play from Michael Hiers to JR Tran-Reno to increase the Lions' lead to 25-10. It was Tran-Reno’s — a running back — third critical catch of the drive. He converted consecutive third downs earlier in the drive on a pair of 16-yard receptions.

Tran-Reno said he’s not used to making that many big catches, but added he might want to play wide receiver in college. Tran-Reno finished the night with 85 yards rushing on 22 carries and 96 yards receiving on six grabs.

“I like doing whatever to help my team win,” he said.

Mortimer Jordan’s ensuing possession after Tran-Reno’s score didn’t last long. On the third play of the drive, Briarwood’s Carson Kolb stormed into the backfield, seemingly getting to the quarterback before he even received the snap. Kolb forced a fumble and recovered it himself to give the Lions prime field position at the 27-yard line.

But the Blue Devil defense held, and Briarwood’s fake field goal attempt resulted in a fumble and recovery that was returned nearly 40 yards. It set Mortimer Jordan up at the 15-yard line after a facemask penalty against the Lions was tacked on.

Marsh connected with Justin Anderson to convert a fourth down and later ran it in from 2 yards out to cut the deficit to 25-17 with 10:54 to play.

Mortimer Jordan had a lengthy drive later in the quarter, but never made much headway.  Dickinson squelched a final threat with his pick.

“Our defense is good and tonight they got tested. They passed the test,” said Yancey.

Tran-Reno thought Briarwood’s experience in close-and-late situations helped the Lions on Friday night as well.

“We’re always confident in our ability to win, and that really helped us this game,” he said.

Hiers led the Lions down the field on their first possession of the game, and two great plays put them in the end zone. Hiers scrambled and found Hudson Hartsfield on the home sideline for a 34-yard gain and on the next play, Hiers placed a perfect ball over the outside shoulder of Carson Eddy for a 38-yard touchdown to give Briarwood a 6-0 lead. Eddy racked up 64 yards on five catches in the game.

Mortimer Jordan tacked on a field goal on its next drive to cut the lead in half and took a 10-6 lead in the second quarter on Marsh’s 24-yard touchdown run.

A 23-yard run by Hiers set the Lions up near the goal line on their next drive, and Eddy’s 1-yard plunge into the end zone put Briarwood back in front for good.

A disastrous fake punt deep in Blue Devils territory set up Hiers’ 11-yard touchdown run right before halftime to give the Lions an 18-10 edge.

Hiers finished the game 14-of-18 passing for 215 yards and a pair of scores to go along with his rushing touchdown. He extended many plays with his feet and was successful more times than not.

“He realizes that he doesn’t have to be a robot out there,” said Yancey. “He can really ad-lib out there. Sometimes he gets caught but a lot of times he doesn’t, and makes big plays.

Mortimer Jordan used six different ball carriers on the night that combined for 98 yards rushing. Through the air, Marsh was 14-of-27 for 123 yards.

The Lions return to region play next week with a critical home matchup against St. Clair County. Mortimer Jordan takes a bye week.