Briarwood coach Fred Yancey will tell you, Joe Craddock is the driver of the bus.

Not the bus that took Briarwood Christian to Eufaula, where the Lions defeated the top-ranked, undefeated Tigers in Friday night’s second-round playoff game &045; but the bus that drove through the Eufaula defense, scoring 34 points and securing a spot in the third round of the Class-5A playoffs.

&uot;Joe is the guy that ignites the rest of the offense,&uot; Yancey said.

The senior quarterback was 8-of-15 with two touchdowns and two interceptions while passing for 93 yards. He also rushed for 59 yards on 12 attempts in the upset-win.

Craddock made sure there was plenty of passenger room for his teammates, the Lions rode to a 34-7 victory on touchdowns scored by five different Lions players.

&uot;Our offense played really well,&uot; Yancey said, well enough to lead Briarwood to a sixth consecutive season with 10 or more wins.

Simeon Castille scored first for Briarwood on a 10-yard run early in the first-quarter.

Then Craddock found Brian Crumpler on a 31-yard go-pattern with 5:40 remaining in the first half to give the Lions a 14-0 halftime lead.

&uot;Crumpler made a diving catch in the endzone that was just as pretty as you could draw up,&uot; Yancey said.

&uot;That play really took the mystery out of who was going to win the game.&uot;

Crumpler had 5 receptions for 43 yards in the game.

Charles Hoke also pulled in a a touchdown pass for the Lions while Andy Davis and Robbie Stephenson each scored on one-yard runs.

Briarwood finished the game with 262 yards of total offense.

But it was the defense that paved the way, Yancey said.

&uot;Our defense set the table all night and our offense responded by putting up a lot of points,&uot; he said.

The first-string Eufaula defense managed only four first downs against the Lions starters.

Briarwood held the Tigers to 180 yards of total offense and 8 first downs.

Yancey gave much of the credit to the defensive front-seven, who had to play &uot;assignment football&uot; to stop Eufaula’s option offense.

&uot;John Post and Jonathan Lawrence put a lot of pressure on the Eufaula backs,&uot; Yancey said.

&uot;J.D. Lott and Andrew McCain did a good job of hitting the mesh point. Those four guys set the tone.&uot;

Yancey said the efforts of the defensive line allowed linebackers Andy Davis, Ryan Adams and John Hall to &uot;gobble up&uot; Eufaula plays before they could gain yardage.

Even Crumpler’s diving catch in the second quarter was set up by a Castille interception, Yancey said.

&uot;That just made it clear they weren’t going to get us,&uot; Yancey said.

Briarwood will play in the quarterfinals for the fourth straight year this Friday night when the Lions host B.C. Rain.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m