For only the third time in this season of history, No. 1-ranked Saraland trailed another team Friday night.

But Briarwood’s lead lasted all of 26 seconds before the Spartans opened the gates to their temple of zoom.

Dillon Alfred took in a pass from K.J. Lacey and raced 63 yards for a touchdown on Saraland’s first play from scrimmage to tie it, Ryan Williams vacuumed up a short scoring pass from Lacey after a Lions fumble, then broke a 60-yard punt return for another touchdown before the popcorn had a chance to cool down.

After that, the Spartans went back to the planet from which they came and went on to beat Briarwood 51-14 in the second round of the Class 6A playoffs in Birmingham.

Saraland (12-0) scored touchdowns on six of its nine possessions with the starters on the field, giving the Spartans’ starters 78 touchdowns on 89 possessions this season.

“Our players want to score every time,” Saraland coach Jeff Kelly said. “You look at the stats, they’re staggering. I want our kids to play with an edge, to run the offense in a hurry and score as quick as we can, and we’ve got to continue to play that well because the challenges get bigger and bigger as the playoffs go on.”

The Spartans — who extended the state’s longest winning streak to 18 straight games — will host No. 3 Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa (12-0) in the quarterfinals next week.

Williams, the reigning Mr. Football who is committed to Alabama, scored three touchdowns, including a 7-yard TD pass from Lacey and a 42-yard run on an end-around in the third quarter.

Lacey, who is committed to Texas and may be the only player who can take the Mr. Football trophy away from Williams, fought off constant blitzing to complete 19 of 30 passes for 251 yards and two touchdowns.

Santae McWilliams scored on a 63-yard run on fourth-and-1 and later scored on a 1-yard run, Deshawn Spencer scored on a 4-yard run and Tucker Singleton kicked a 29-yard field goal.

This post will be updated