Three turnovers spelled disaster for the Briarwood Christian Lions last Friday night as the Homewood Patriots exacted revenge to eliminate BCS from the Class 5A playoffs 35-25.

The Lions had delivered the Patriots’ only loss during the regular season in late October.

Briarwood threw two interceptions and fumbled once in the loss.

&uot;As good as Homewood is, if you make turnovers against them you are going to lose,&uot; BCS head coach Fred Yancy said. &uot;I’m sure they would say the same about us and they didn’t make the turnovers and we did.&uot;

BCS had a breath of life with 8:00 left in the game following a goal line stand. After getting the ball back on downs, the Lions got two first downs before fumbling the ball away on a lateral pass. Twenty-four yards and three plays later, Patriot quarterback Parker Gargis found the endzone to put Homewood up 28-17 with 6:58 left in the game.

&uot;The goal line stand gave me and the team a breath of life,&uot; Yancy said. &uot;I really felt like they could not stop our offense all night, but we stopped ourselves with costly turnovers.&uot;

Briarwood got on the board first when Ben Bludsworth connected on a 27-yard field goal with 6:24 left in the opening quarter.

Homewood answered when Gargis hit Young with a 27-yard scoring strike with 4:33 left in the first quarter. Suther’s kick gave the Pats a 7-3 lead.

BCS quarterback Joe Craddock capped a 66-yard, 11-play drive with a 2-yard scoring run to give the Lions the lead again at the 11:01 mark of the second quarter. Bludsworth’s kick gave the Lions a 10-7 lead.

Briarwood added to that lead when Tim Castille found the endzone from 24 yards out to cap a 10-play, 80-yard drive at the 5:02 mark of the second quarter. Bludsworth’s kick gave Briarwood a 17-7 lead.

Homewood got on the board again right before the half when Thornton scored from 6 yards out to cap a 73-yard, 12-play drive. Suther’s kick cut the Lion lead to 17-14 heading into the locker room at the half.

Thornton struck again at the 9:18 mark of the third quarter, this time on a 17-yard scamper. Suther’s kick gave the Patriots a 21-17 lead.

Following a Lion fumble, Gargis found paydirt from 3 yards out to cap a 3-play, 24-yard drive to put the Pats up 28-17 with 6:58 remaining in the game.

Homewood added to that lead following an interception when Gargis scored on a 27-yard run. Suther’s kick gave the Patriots a 35-17 lead with 2:49 left in the game.

Briarwood put another touchdown on the board with :59 left in the game when Craddock hit Simeon Castille on a 27-yard scoring strike.

David Eady caught the 2-point conversion pass from Craddock to make the final score 35-25.

Yancy said he was proud of the way his team played, despite the loss.

&uot;I was proud of the way the kids played,&uot; Yancy said. &uot;This has been one of the most fun seasons I have coached here at Briarwood because we had to scrap every week and we had to overcome a lot of adversity and were pretty successful.

The Lions ended the season with a 12-2 mark. It marked the seventh straight season the Lions have won at least 11 games.

&uot;That says a lot about the character of our kids,&uot; Yancy said. &uot;This team upheld the desire to win and to have a great team.&uot;