Amy Thrash, Sports Reporter
BIRMINGHAM, Ala-- The Fort Payne Wildcats were defeated by the Briarwood Christian Lions 35-12, in the first round of the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) playoffs on Friday night.
Alex McPherson nailed a 28-yard field goal to make the score 3-0, with 6:43 remaining in the first quarter. Briarwood punched it in for a touchdown giving them the 7-3 lead with 4:49 left in the first.
The Wildcats cut the lead within one point, when Mcpherson hit a 48-yard field goal, making the score 7-6. Briarwood scored from 14-yards out to make the score 14-6 with 4:20 left in the second quarter. Darrell Prater dove into the endzone from 2-yards out but the 2 point conversion attempt was no good making the score 14-12 with 1:40 left in the second quarter. The Lions scored on a 43-yard run to make the score 21-12, at the half.
With 6:34 remaining in the third quarter, the Lions scored to take the 28-12 lead over the Wildcats.
Briarwood scored their final touchdown of the night in the fourth quarter to claim the 35-12 win over the Fort Payne Wildcats.
“It was a disappointing loss to a good Briarwood team in the playoffs. I thought our players played really hard and competed with a lot of class and character,” stated Fort Payne Head Football Coach, Chris Elmore.
“Briarwood's Quarterback, Chris Vizzina, made a lot of great individual plays and it was too difficult to overcome that. I am very proud of our seniors for sticking with our program when we started out 0-3. Their character and work ethic helped us turn around a disappointing start and finish with a 6-5 record for the year,” Elmore concluded.
