The (5A) Briarwood Christian Lions (1-1) had a tough season opener against (6A) Vestavia (2-0) losing 20-13. The Lions came back to beat region rival John Carroll (0-2) 38-14 in the first week of regional play last Friday night.
(5A) Benjamin Russell comes into the game off two convincing victories. The first week the Wildcats overpowered Coach Woodrow Lowe’s (6A) Smith’s Station (1-1) 34-10. They went on to repeat the effort in a win 35-6 over an overmatched (5A) Moody team.
Briarwood Christian comes into this game ranked No. 8 and Benjamin Russell ranked No. 2 in the ASWA weekly poll.
We spoke with Benjamin Russell’s Coach Willie Martin about this game.
“We’ve been looking forward to this game," he said. "We wish it was the seventh or eighth game instead of the third. Briarwood is strong both on offense and defense. They have a seasoned quarterback (Barrett Trotter). They are going to cause us problems. It will take our best game to beat them.”
“I will know more about this team after this week. One game doesn’t make a season, but it’s a good measuring stick.”
What may be a factor in this game is the health of Benjamin Russell’s outstanding linebacker, Auburn verbal commitment Eltoro Freeman.
“Eltoro pulled a hamstring last week, and he limped around on it," coach Martin said. "We don’t want to jeopardize his health. We’ll just have to see if he can stretch it out enough to play.”
“We are waiting on a doctor’s report on another player. We have one with an ankle, waiting on an MRI and a groin injury. It’s the third week, and like everybody, we’re a little banged up with some bumps and bruises. We have an offensive lineman hurt, and I’m sure Briarwood will take advantage of that, and they should.”
Players to look for in this game:
Benjamin Russell has the intimidating duo of Eltoro Freeman and Jonathan Birmingham at linebacker. They combined for 174 tackles in the 2005 season. Freeman alone had 53 for loss of yardage.
Briarwood Christian has junior quarterback Barrett Trotter. Trotter went 13-20 last week for 193 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Jonathan Sillers recorded two touchdown runs in last week's victory.
It's easy to say Benjamin Russell takes this match-up if all were healthy, but with so may questions this game becomes one of the most competitive of the week. With trepidation, I still take Benjamin Russell in a close contest.
Briarwood Christian: message board
Benjamin Russell: message board
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