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Briarwood receiver Jay Butler makes a catch during the Lions' win against Mortimer Jordan on Sept. 24. (For the Reporter/Neal Wagner)

By STEPHEN DAWKINS | Special to the Reporter

NORTH SHELBY – Briarwood improved to 6-0 on the season (3-0 in Class 6A, Region 5) with a 38-22 win over Mortimer Jordan (2-3) on Friday, Sept. 24.

The Lions built a 21-0 lead with a dominant first half of play.

Christopher Vizzina scored firs, on a 31-yard touchdown run with 2:50 remaining in the opening quarter.

Then it was Luke Reebals with touchdown runs of 3 and 4 yards, both in the second quarter.

A BCS field goal with 9:59 to go in the third quarter made it 24-0.

However, that is when the visitors then reeled off 16 consecutive points to pull to within one score of the lead at 24-16.

With the Lions in danger of an upset, they responded in a big way on crowd-pleasing play.

It came when Vizzina broke a couple of tackles in the backfield and launched a 69-yard touchdown pass to Jay Butler with 9:29 on the clock in the fourth quarter. The touchdown play saw Butler break two tackles after the catch, dragging a defender for several yeards before powering into the end zone for a 31-16 lead.

Briarwood closed out the scoring with a 13-yard touchdown run by Vizzina later in the final quarter, before Mortimer Jordan added one more touchdown to create the 16-point difference in the final score.

Vizzina finished the game with 200 all-purpose yards and totaled three touchdowns for the Lions, while Butler finished with 95 receiving yards. Reebals finished with 130 rushing yards and 50 receiving yards with two total touchdowns.

The Lions will now look to close out the regular season with three consecutive region games–hosting Shades Valley and Homewood and visiting Mountain Brook–and a Week 10 trip to Corner.

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