Briarwood Christian’s defense has not allowed a rushing touchdown in the past three football games – all wins after opening the year with a pair of losses.

Briarwood head coach Matthew Forester, who cut his teeth as a two-time All-State linebacker at the school, was surprised to learn his Lions had been so stingy.

“I didn’t realize that,” he said. “That’s a new stat to me.”

The milestone was discovered by this Friday’s opposing head coach, Helena’s Richie Busby.

“They probably have the best defensive front we’ve seen,” Busby said. “They are big, they play hard and the rest of the defense complements them. They are going to be coached up, disciplined and be where they are supposed to be and they are good tacklers. I don’t think they’ve given up a running touchdown in three weeks.”

The challenge for Busby’s bunch starting Friday at 7 p.m. at Husky Stadium in Helena in a Class 6A, Region 3 contest will be to turn the tide on that defense.

The Huskies, ranked eighth in 6A, are riding a six-game winning streak to open the season – tied for the third-longest winning streak in the 10 years Helena has fielded a team. The 2021 squad was 9-0 before dropping its last two games of the year and the 2019 Huskies won eight straight on the way to a 9-2 finish. In 2015, Helena also won six in a row in a 9-3 season.

“I don’t know that anybody expected us to be undefeated at this point,” Busby said. “We had a lot of unanswered questions going into fall in a lot of important areas – especially up front on both sides of the ball.”

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The Huskies, who are scoring 42.8 points per game and have 210 rushing yards a game, had two returning starters on the offensive front in center Reece Mims at 6-feet, 240 pounds, and right guard Grant Vines, 6-0, 250.

“It seems like every week somebody is banged up or limited in what he can do,” Busby said, “so we’ve played six or seven up front on offense. Jackson Smith (5-9, 190), Ivan McNeal (5-10, 220), Brody Haithcock (6-0, 255), Austin Wienand (6-0, 255) have all played well. Jonah Chand (5-10, 190) has been a real big piece for us, especially the first few weeks, and he’s continued to play well.”

Those linemen have protected first-year starter Carson Acker as he has thrown for 818 yards while completing 62-of-84 passes (74 percent) for 12 touchdowns with one interception. “Carson has been a backup all three years until this year and he’s one of those kids who worked his tail off every day at practice and never complained about playing time or his role,” Busby said. “He’s making good decisions and getting the ball out where it needs to be, spreading it around to those playmakers and keeping us in the right plays and out of bad plays.”

Senior running back Jordan Washington is one of those playmakers for the Huskies, running 117 times for 861 yards and 12 scores. Sophomore Jeremy Spratling has scored six TDs, rushing for 280 yards on 37 carries.

Senior wide receiver Hunter Hale is Acker’s prime target, catching 31 passes for 440 yards and eight touchdowns. Junior Torrey Ward has 215 yards receiving on 16 catches with three TDs.

“Austin Lewis has handled all three of our kicking duties,” Busby said. “He’s had an exceptional year and I think he’s a next-level kicker.”

Lewis is 3-for-4 on field goals, with one blocked, with a long of 45 yards. The junior is 31-for-33 on extra points and averages 41 yards per punt with a 3.6-second hang time.

Briarwood lost to second-ranked 6A Clay-Chalkville and to 7A Spain Park before beating region rivals Chilton County and Pelham and 7A Oak Mountain.

“It’s been nice to play schools our size,” Forester said. “It was really hard two years ago (after finishing 10-2) to find anybody to play us who were roughly our size. Clay reached out – we lost to them in the semifinals two years ago – and I thought it would be a good game to judge ourselves. Spain Park is local and I thought, ‘Let’s play!’ It allows us to improve.”

Forester said the Lions are also working with their first new quarterback for the departed-to-Clemson Christopher Vizzina. “It got us back to where we started with our roots,” the coach said of breaking in a new QB – or two.

“With a new offense, we knew we’d have to have a different kind of structure to what we’re doing. It’s pretty obvious on our tape – we’re doing a lot of overloading in our formations, playing a ton of personnel and sometimes a different quarterback to run the ball. We have a unique style of offense.”

Senior Josh Thompson is the starter for Briarwood and through five games he’s thrown five touchdown passes with one interception. Thompson has completed 40-of-62 passes (65 percent) for 452 yards. He also has 124 yards on the ground with another TD.

Junior quarterback James Clark also has 125 yards on the ground with two TDs.

Senior Cooper Higgins leads the Lions with 189 yards on the ground on 45 carries with three touchdowns. “Cooper has played a lot of ball since he was a sophomore,” Forester said. “He has great vision and is a tough blocker.”

The offensive front is led by Mercer commitment Luke Schultz at tackle. The 6-7, 290-pounder “has been our anchor,” Forester said. “Barnabas Karanja is our center and he’s been a surprise and improving every week. It’s been fun to watch him. Trey Saunders has done a great job, too.

“We have a new offensive line coach in (Tony) Johnson, who came over from Mountain Brook. He’s worked incredibly hard with that group. The guys have listened and bought in.”

The Briarwood defense features four seniors starting up front – Luke Dickinson, Max Luster, Andrew Kassouf and Case Reynolds – along with sophomore Garrett Witherington. “Those five have been stalwarts up front,” Forester said. “They have been stopping the run and have done a great job being pass rushers.

“All three of our linebackers are playing at a high level right now. The senior leader is Jack Cornish at the middle linebacker spot. Luke Reynolds is playing kind of a nickel spot and he’s great against the run and the pass. Asa Harris is the ‘Will’ linebacker.

“We have three seniors in the secondary with Grey Reebals and Ethan Carr at cornerback with Brooks Travis at safety. We also have Wes Burgess and Rylan Hamm back there as juniors. All of them have done a good job this year,” Forester said.

Briarwood is trying to rebound from a 3-7 finish in 2022, the first year the Lions missed the playoffs since 1992.

“We had a lot of injuries last year,” Forester said, “but we had a lot of close games we didn’t finish. Whether you win or lose, you want to improve. The biggest thing for the players is that was last year’s team. What happened last year doesn’t mean it’s a cycle and will repeat itself. This year’s team has a chance to set its flag in the sand.

“For us as a staff, we have to get them to realize it’s the same schedule, but it’s not tied together. They have the ability as senior leaders they can go out and make their own fortunes. As it’s dawned on them, they have been more excited and trusted each other. It’s been fun to watch as confidence has built inside them.”