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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – In a battle of local rivals on Cahaba Valley Road, the Briarwood Christian Lions secured a big victory in their final game of the regular season by beating the Oak Mountain Eagles.

Briarwood took down the No. 3 team in Class 7A by a score of 4-1 to earn a win over the Eagles on Tuesday, April 22 at Oak Mountain High School.

The win extends the Lions’ win streak to three games after they secured a 7-0 victory over John Carroll on Tuesday, April 15 and a 10-0 win over Pelham on Thursday, April 17.

The latter victory came in the final game of area play as Briarwood advanced to the playoffs on head-to-head goal differential after finishing tied at 3-3 with Chelsea.

Oak Mountain came in with a big wave of momentum after rallying to reach the playoffs for itself. After a 1-0 win over Hoover on April 17, the Eagles survived a 1-1 overtime battle with Hewitt-Trussville on Monday, April 21 to win a penalty shootout and advance to the playoffs.

As a result though, the Lions came into the match with fresher legs, not having played since Thursday versus Oak Mountain which played its rescheduled area match just 23 hours prior, which forced the Eagles to rotate their squad.

Briarwood took advantage of the opportunity to gain momentum ahead of the playoffs with a big offensive showing against a tough Oak Mountain defense.

Taylor Leib found the back of the net twice as she continued her goalscoring form since returning to the Briarwood starting lineup, securing a brace for the Lions attack.

In addition, Taylor Matthews joined her with a goal on the night while Zoey Eighmy was responsible for the other goal to give the Lions four goals on the scoreboard.

Briarwood’s defense also held up its end of the pitch. Oak Mountain broke through the back line with a goal from Ellee Maniscalco, but Lions keeper Cat Walker walked away with three saves to limit the damage to just the lone goal.

Briarwood finished the regular season with a 10-7 overall record. The Lions will travel to the Helena Huskies on Friday, April 25 at 5 p.m. at Helena High School for the first round of the playoffs.

The Eagles dropped to 15-5-3 to finish out the 2025 regular season. Oak Mountain will hit the road as well for a county battle, this time against the Thompson Warriors on Tuesday, April 29 at 7 p.m. at Warrior Stadium in the first round of the Class 7A playoffs.