Lions win state soccer title

HUNTSVILLE —  Eighty minutes stood between the Briarwood Christian School boys soccer team and a state title.

It only took about 20 for the Lions to seal their fate.

They scored four early goals in Friday’s 5-0 victory over Springville in the Class 4A-5A state final at John Hunt Park.

“I could just see the resolve on their faces right from the start,” head coach Shawn Brower said, “that this was probably going to end well.”

Logan Frost, Trent Malloy, Jackson Stubbs and Hamilton Bowen all scored in Briarwood’s victory. The team’s other goal came on a corner kick from Stubbs that Springville deflected into its own net.

The win secured Briarwood its first state soccer title since 2013 and avenged a pair of losses suffered in the past two state finals. The Lions made it to the state championship game in 2017 and 2018 but fell to the Randolph School in Huntsville both times.

“To get here wasn’t enough,” Brower said. “We were going to do everything we could to not be denied.”

They almost were in Thursday’s state semifinal against Montgomery Academy. The teams were tied 1-1 at the end of regulation and two overtime periods.

But Briarwood emerged in penalty kicks 5-3. Bailey Morman, Sam Jauregui, Braxton Tubbs, Frost and Stubbs all converted under tense circumstances.

Brower said it was the first time all season that his team made all five penalty kicks, including in practice sessions.

“I think the experience paid off, and the determination,” Brower said. “They just had a ton of love for each other.”

The Lions’ showing at the state final four capped a memorable season. They finished with a 21-1-3 record and maintained their No. 1 ranking in the 4A-5A state coaches’ poll throughout the spring.

Briarwood also set a state record for most consecutive shutouts. From mid-February to mid-March, the Lions went 10 games without allowing a goal.

“That was kind of a battle within the season,” Brower said.

The shutout streak ended when the Lions suffered their only defeat, a 1-0 decision against Albertville. Brower said that after the game opposing players celebrated audaciously, hoisting a teammate upon their shoulders.

Brower told his team to remember the scene. No one wanted to experience it again, especially not in Huntsville at the state tournament.

In the end, the Lions didn’t have to relive the disappointment.

They won the remainder of their games, save for a tie against a team from Tennessee, and rejoiced after the whistle blew in the state championship.

Briarwood players rushed the rain-soaked field, embraced one another and accepted the blue map that had so narrowly eluded them.

Thirteen members of the Lions’ varsity roster were on the two teams that lost in past state finals. They knew what it was like to be 80 minutes away from a state championship, only to come up short.

This time around, the Lions saw their goal to completion. They ran through the season's finish line and into history.

“This,” Brower said, “is a moment we don’t want to miss.”