Sweet Revenge: Top-ranked Briarwood blasts No. 5 Wenonah
BIRMINGHAM — All you need to know about this Class 5A top-five matchup is that with under a minute to play, the Briarwood Christian School students were chanting, “We want Bama!”
It was that kind of night for the No. 1 Lions, who routed No. 5 Wenonah 34-0 at Lions Pride Stadium. It was sweet revenge for Briarwood Christian, which lost to the Dragons in the Class 5A semifinals last fall.
“It feels really good,” said Briarwood Christian senior cornerback Andrew Sherrod, who returned an interception for a touchdown. “We’ve been working really hard in the offseason, and we knew this was going to be a good game. We came out and worked our butts off.”
Briarwood Christian (3-0, 2-0 Class 5A, Region 5) surged late in the first quarter into the second quarter. Patrick Blythe recovered a fumble, which led to the Lions’ first points of the game when quarterback Michael Hiers hit Noah Whatley across the middle for a 19-yard touchdown on third-and-goal.
Two plays later, Sherrod picked off a Wenonah pass and took it 45 yards for a score. The rout was on from there. Hiers danced his way for a 14-yard touchdown at the 7:34 mark in the second quarter, and then hit J.R. Tran-Reno two minutes later for a 59-yard score. Briarwood Christian led 27-0 at halftime.
The lone touchdown of the second half came midway through the third quarter when Hiers hit Hudson Hartsfield on a screen pass, which Hartsfield took 30 yards to the end zone.
“We made some big plays,” said Briarwood Christian head coach Fred Yancey. “That’s what you’ve got to do when you play against a team like Wenonah. That’s a great program and they play good ball. We just hit a few big plays that went our way tonight.”
Yancey said he did not expect the game to finish to the tune of 34-0. After all, the Lions won 15-14 in the regular season against Wenonah in 2016, and lost in the semifinals 14-8.
“It was just our night to be hot,” Yancey said.
Hiers finished 10-of-14 for 215 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. He also rushed for a touchdown. His 10 completions went to six different receivers.
“Michael has proven to me he’s a real good quarterback,” Yancey said.
Tran-Reno amassed 98 total yards on the ground and through the air. Luke Prewett led the Lions with 41 rushing yards.
“Tonight, they all put it together pretty good,” Yancey said.
The Briarwood Christian defense held Wenonah (2-1, 1-1) to 212 total yards and forced two turnovers, a Blythe fumble recovery and Sherrod’s interception. Wenonah quarterback Carlos Rogers finished 9-of-23 for 106 yards. He rushed 18 times for 60 yards. Was there any way Briarwood Christian was going to allow Wenonah to score late in the game?
“No way,” Sherrod said. “We were on the pedal and we were going to stay on it.”
The redemption factor was evident in Lions Pride Stadium on Friday night. The win gives Briarwood Christian a leg up in the race for Region 5.
“It felt very good,” Hiers said. “I didn’t expect it to be that, but it felt very good. We were pretty amped for last year’s game, but we were definitely looking for redemption. That’s for sure.”
Briarwood Christian travels to Fairfield next week, while Wenonah plays host to Shelby County.