Photo by Savannah Schmidt
Briarwood OL Tanner Hutson (55) cheers on his team during the John Carroll vs Briarwood game at Lions Pride Stadium on Oct. 1, 2024.
HAYDEN – Briarwood Christian will not advance to the postseason. But the Lions have spent the past four weeks showing that they just might be one of the better Class 5A teams in the state.
The latest statement came on Friday night when the Lions extended their winning streak to four games by dismantling Hayden, 50-16, in a Class 5A Region 5 game at Hayden. Briarwood scored 28 first-quarter points, led by 37 at halftime and let the younger players finish things.
“We’re playing at the level I thought we would at the beginning of the season,” said Briarwood head coach Matthew Forester. “We had a couple of injuries that really hurt early in the season. You got to live with what happened. We didn’t play well early and lost a couple of close games. That hurt. When you’re a 5A team, a couple of injuries really matter because depth is not the same the lower you go. For us, it’s getting healthy and kind of getting back to who we are.”
Briarwood lost its first five games before knocking off a pair of unbeaten teams – Leeds and Corner – to begin the four-game winning streak. The Lions won those four games by a combined score of 133-53.
“You start 0-5, all the sudden you beat two good teams in a row,” Forester said. “You’re like, ‘Alright, we got this thing rolling.’ Playoffs is not how it worked out. But this is us being our absolute best at the end of the season. And that’s what you’re always building for, you want to be peaking in the playoffs. Unfortunately, we’re peaking, we just don’t get the opportunity to get to the playoffs.”
Briarwood (4-5 overall, 3-3 Region 5) put Friday’s game out of reach quickly. The Lions opened the scoring when Luke Reynolds burst in from four yards out on the first drive of the game. After a defensive stop, the Lions scored on a 37-yard pass from Charles Dedmon to Brayden Robertson. The 14-0 lead was just a start.
Miscues on the next two kickoffs by the Wildcats (2-8 overall, 0-6 Region 5) set Briarwood up for short scoring drives. The first one ended when the 6-foot-6, 215-pound Robertson took a shotgun snap and shed several tackles on the way to a 33-yard touchdown run. Robertson didn’t have many touches – two rushes and a reception – but he gained 100 gained and make a big impact.
“Early in the year, we were trying to figure out where he fits the best, how he helps the team and how we can use his ability (to build toward) his future,” Forester said. “I think he’ll have a great college future. Now, we’ve learned it and we’ve figured it out. He’s really one of the lynchpins to our success.”
Briarwood got the ball back after his second touchdown when Hayden misplayed the kickoff. Reynolds scored on another 4-yard run and Briarwood led by 28 with 5:05 left in the first quarter.
The Lions added a 24-yard field goal by Garrett Heinemann and a 17-yard scoring run by Jackson Reyer to take the 37-0 lead at halftime. Forester cleared the bench in the second half and got touchdowns on a 1-yard run by Jamison Barnes and a 7-yard run by John Campbell. Both Hayden scores came against Briarwood’s reserves.
Briarwood finished with 306 yards on the ground and 112 through the air. Reyer rushed for a team-high 92 yards on 13 carries while Reynolds added 51 yards on eight carries. The Lions limited Hayden to 178 yards with only 69 of those yards coming in the first half.
Briarwood closes the season next week with a non-region game at home against McAdory.
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