Photo courtesy of Todd Kwarcinski.
Briarwood looks to get off to a solid start in September, with four Class 5A, Region 5 contests.
The Briarwood Christian School football team carries a weight on its back that has been building for 23 years.
It’s a good kind of pressure; the kind of pressure that comes from being successful. The Lions are aiming to qualify for the state playoffs for the 24th consecutive season under head coach Fred Yancey.
“It was extremely important to us to be able to continue that (in 2015),” assistant coach Shane Harmon said at the Jefferson-Shelby Media Days. “When we finally got in, there was a sense of relief there. But then, once we got to the playoffs, we didn’t want that to just be the goal. We wanted to play well and we did.”
The Lions jumped up to 5A before the 2000 season, and remained there until being bumped up to 6A in 2014. After two seasons at that level, Briarwood is back at the 5A level and ready to make some noise.
Briarwood takes on Vestavia Hills in a season-opening jamboree game and Chelsea in a non-region matchup to kick things off before beginning its slate in Class 5A, Region 5 with a Sept. 2 game against Moody.
The Lions have not played Moody since 2011, but hold a 9-5 mark all-time against the Blue Devils, including winning the past six matchups dating back to 2006.
On Sept. 9, the Lions will make a road trip to play Wenonah, a program Briarwood has never faced on the field.
Briarwood will return home the following week in a similar situation to play host to head coach L.C. Cole and Fairfield in another region contest. The Lions have never faced Fairfield on the gridiron.
Many teams play during the first week of the season now in order to take an off week in the middle of the season, but Briarwood breaks the mold. Due to the jamboree contest to open the year, the Lions play 10 straight regular season games without a week off.
Briarwood finishes the month of September with a pair of road games, the first against Mortimer Jordan in a non-region battle. Mortimer Jordan advanced to the 5A state championship game last fall.
In the only previous matchup between the two teams, a first-round playoff game in 2011, Briarwood blanked the Blue Devils, 38-0.
The Lions return to region play against St. Clair County Sept. 30 in the teams’ first matchup in 20 years. Briarwood holds a 5-2 edge all-time in the series, with a 9-7 second-round playoff victory in 1996, in the most recent matchup.
Harmon said he expects the region to be just as tough as the previous two years, when the Lions were in 6A. But he is hopeful that once the playoffs come around, Briarwood’s “best effort” will be enough against most teams.
“The difference was when we got to the playoffs (in 2014 and 2015), even though in the regular season we had disappointing (records) the last two seasons by our standards, we went as far as we could really go,” he said. “Our best effort will be good enough to compete against whoever we face.”
