Briarwood Football
Briarwood Christian’s William Barfield carries the ball in the Lions’ game against Florence in the state playoffs. Photo by Randy Glover.
Briarwood Christian School’s football season ended with a 38-16 loss to Florence in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs.
Briarwood trailed 14-0 at halftime, and closed the gap to 14-8 in the third quarter on a 1-yard run by Walker Lott and Lott’s two-point conversion pass to Jake Morris.
But the powerful Florence offense pulled away to a 31-8 lead, largely on the strength of its running game. Briarwood scored again when Sam Sherrod scooped up a fumble after a pass completion and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown. The PAT failed, leaving Briarwood down 31-14.
The Falcons added another TD run and took a safety for the final score.
Lott was 8-of-15 passing for 110 yards. Lott was credited with 20 yards rushing on 20 carries. William Barfield carried the ball eight times for 31 yards and added two catches for 24 yards. Morris was the leading receiver with two catches for 52 yards.
Florence (9-2) advanced to meet Shades Valley in round two. Briarwood ended its season at 4-7.
Briarwood had earned its playoff berth by beating John Carroll 35-0 in the final Class 6A, Region 5 matchup. Lott ran for a pair of touchdowns and passed 47 yards to Luke Dyson for another score, all in the second quarter. Morris added a 70-yard TD on a punt return, also in the second quarter. Jordan Depaolantonio added 55 yards rushing on 10 carries and scored a touchdown. Lott was 11-of-18 passing for 142 yards and rushed for 69 yards on nine carries.
Briarwood closed the regular season with a 49-21 loss to Madison Academy in a non-region game. The Lions trailed just 28-21 at halftime, but Madison Academy, the top-ranked team in Class 3A, blew the game open in the second half. Lott rushed for all three TDs on runs of 6, 3 and 12 yards.
