Yancey earns 250th victory as Lions beat Shelby County
COLUMBIANA — There were some pretty big numbers put up in Briarwood Christian School’s 43-21 victory Friday at Shelby County High, not the least of which was the score itself.
But the biggest number of them all was 250.
That’s the number of games that Lions coach Fred Yancey has won in his 26 seasons at Briarwood.
School officials presented Yancey with a golden helmet emblazoned with the number 250 after Friday’s win, which also clinched the Class 5A, Region 5 title.
The milestone was a surprise to Yancey, whose career total is now somewhere north of 280 wins, including six years at schools in Tennessee and Georgia.
“I did not know this was coming,” Yancey said. “I’m proud of all the teams I’ve coached and the fun I’ve had all these years. I’m real thankful for all that led up to this, and I really appreciate the guys tonight playing so well.”
The game did not start well for the Lions, as the Wildcats utilized their patient option attack to eat up yardage and time early. Running back Keyvontae Mayfield put Shelby County in the lead with a 1-yard run that took 10 plays and a bit more than five minutes.
Briarwood (7-1, 6-0 region) was as quick as the Wildcats were methodical, taking just 63 seconds and four plays to get a touchdown from quarterback William Gray. The Lions took the lead on a trick-play two-point conversion where the linemen line up near the sideline, leaving the center and quarterback alone; J.R. Tran-Reno ran the conversion easily from there.
The pattern continued through the first half, proving an old saying that the most misleading statistic in football is time of possession. Shelby County held the ball more than 20 minutes in the first half, but Briarwood scored three touchdowns in less than four minutes.
“I knew they were going to come at us and just knock us in the teeth,” Yancey said. “We had to come out and play great offense, because that team could have gone crazy on us if we hadn’t moved the ball.”
Gray connected with Luke Miskelley for a 19-yard touchdown pass midway through the second quarter. Then late in the period, Gray found Tran-Reno for a 16-yard scoring strike, finishing off a drive that took just six plays and 46 seconds to cover 73 yards.
In the second half, the Lions put the game away in commanding fashion. Barrett Tindall scored on a 6-yard run with 7:37 left in the third period. Then after Briarwood recovered a Wildcat fumble on the first play after the ensuing kickoff, Gray threw to Kolby Kwarcinski for an 18-yard touchdown.
Michael Hiers finished the Lions’ scoring with a 34-yard scoring dash with 3:39 left in the period.
Shelby County (3-5, 1-5 region) scored two late touchdowns, the latter of which was set up by a 94-yard run by quarterback Chad Russ, who was brought down just a yard short of the goal line. Mayfield did the honors on the next play.
Gray was almost perfect in passing for the night, completing 14 of his 15 attempts for 203 yards before being pulled out in the fourth quarter. He threw three touchdown passes with no interceptions; in fact, the Lions had no turnovers at all, and were penalized just six times for 40 yards.
Russ threw just four times with one completion for seven yards, but the Wildcat rushing game gained 356 yards.
The region title is the first for Briarwood since 2011, which wraps up its region schedule at home next week against Pleasant Grove. Shelby County hosts Woodlawn.