Lions fall short against Helena
BIRMINGHAM — In a pivotal Class 6A, Region 3 game at Lions Pride Stadium on Friday, three was the crucial number.
Helena High School converted on 9-of-14 third downs while Briarwood Christian School could only make good on 3-of-11, and the Huskies came away with a 31-21 victory.
“Penalties and third downs,” Lions head coach Matthew Forester said of the game. “We’ve got to evaluate and get better at it.”
Helena (6-1, 3-1 in region) went up 14-0 midway through the second quarter, both touchdowns scored by Jordan Washington on runs of 1 and 80 yards. Briarwood (3-3, 1-2) responded with less than a minute until halftime when quarterback Christopher Vizzina found Brady Waugh for a 10-yard touchdown on fourth down, capping a 12-play, 68-yard drive. The Lions tied the game midway through the third quarter on a Vizzina 1-yard keeper, punctuating a 10-play 70-yard drive that ate more than five minutes off the clock.
Washington responded with his third rushing touchdown from 5 yards out, and Briarwood tied the game 21-21 on the ensuing possession when Vizzina connected with Cooper Higgins on a 20-yard strike.
Again, Washington responded. He rushed six times for 37 yards on the Huskies’ next possession, capped by a 2-yard score.
“We’ve got to execute and tackle,” Forester said. “It’s hard to tackle a really good running back, and he was smooth. We missed a few tackles. We were in the right position. We’ll get better at it.”
Washington finished the game with 148 yards and four touchdowns on 25 carries.
A 32-yard field goal by James Lewis with 2:05 to play iced the win for Helena. On the final drive, Vizzina was sacked twice and threw his second interception of the game. Vizzina finished 18-of-30 for 196 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Higgins led the Lions in receiving with 93 yards on five receptions, and also in rushing with 31 yards. Waugh hauled in eight catches for 72 yards.
“I thought our guys battled hard until the end,” Forester said. “We were in it to win it. You play in a tough region like we’re in, anything can happen. It’s the small things that matter the most. It’s the details in these big games. We’ve just got to be better at executing in the details.”
Helena quarterback Dalton Lewellyn was 7-of-14 for 113 yards, and rushed 10 times for 72 yards. Torrey Ward caught three passes for 54 yards, all of which were key third-down conversions.
Briarwood is back in action at Lions Pride Stadium next week for a region contest against Calera (2-4, 1-3). Homewood is 3-0 in region play. Helena is 3-1, and Benjamin Russell and Pelham are both 2-1.
“It’s a really tough region,” Forester said. “I think the big thing for us is you’re not out of it. You’re not where you want to be, but that’s a lot of life. You aren’t always where you want to be, but you’ve got to work and you’ve got to commit to getting better. If we can have a great focus on Monday, come back in ready to go, I think we will have the opportunity to still make noise. It’s not exactly how we wanted it, but we can still make the playoffs, we can still make a big push.”