Eagles head to Memphis in playoffs; Bruins get rematch with rival Rebels

By CAROL STUART
Brentwood Home Page
Brentwood Academy’s football team boards buses about noon today to travel almost 200 miles via I-40 to play Memphis Christian Brothers in the playoff second-round. Brentwood High goes only about 10 miles from Murray Lane to Hillsboro Road to battle county rival Franklin.

BA was expected to make it at least this far. BHS wasn’t expected to win its first game, a rematch with its own district winner Independence last week.

“It was awful fun to see the joy on the kids’ faces Friday night,” BHS Coach Ron Crawford said. “We were excited when we found out Franklin won. We’re happy for our league. But then we got back to business as usual once we found it who it was.”

The Bruins played Franklin just two weeks ago, losing 24-10 in the regular-season finale In a battle for second place in the district – and what ended up being a home berth for the Class 6A first-rounder.

BA’s Eagles (9-2), who also slipped to third in its region with a loss to Ensworth, hasn’t faced CBHS this season. Plus there’s the long road trip – and with a win Friday night, there will likely be a trip to Chattanooga for next week’s quarterfinals for a rematch with Baylor.

“Hopefully we just have to go down and do our thing,” BA Coach Ralph Potter said. “We’ve had a good week of practice. The kids are enjoying the playoff time and having a good time practice and preparing well.”

Here’s a closer look at the two games:

Brentwood (7-4) at Franklin (8-3), 7 p.m.

The regular-season matchup is still fresh in both teams’ minds, with Franklin winning in part due to four Brentwood turnovers in Franklin territory. The Bruins had won three in a row over the Rebels and five of the last six.

It was only 3-3 at halftime, with BHS stopping Franklin four times inside the 10 on consecutive possessions – twice on fourth down and twice on fumbles. But FHS senior quarterback Matt Kuivenen, being recruited by Syracuse and other DI programs, threw a touchdown pass early in the third quarter after a roughing the kicker call against Brentwood.

Brentwood tied it 10-10 but gave up another long drive and then another Kuivenen TD pass.

“Quite frankly, they just wore us down in the first game,” Crawford said. “We made too many mistakes, they controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides, we couldn't block them and they blocked us. We did a good job limiting Kuvivenen in the first half, but once they got the run-pass mix going, it was tough for us to stop.

“They punched us in the mouth and we couldn't do anything about it. They physically overwhelmed us in the game.”

Senior running back Chudi Echetebu and junior QB Austin Winfree head up the Bruins offense, and Nicholas Coffey anchors the defense.

The winner will play the winner of Mt. Juliet vs. Siegel in next Friday’s quarterfinals.

Brentwood Academy (9-2) at Memphis Christian Brothers (9-2)

BA linemen Graham Shuler, committed to Stanford, and Woody Baron, headed to Virginia Tech, were both named finalists for the Division II-AA Mr. Football Lineman of the Year. But while Shuler’s ankle is on the mend, Baron’s knee injury may keep him out for the fourth straight game.

“Woody will be available,” Potter said. “He’s not 100%, so he’s going to be dressed out and ready to go, but we would rather not play him. As long as we’re doing well, we probably won’t. If we absolutely have to have him, he’ll go, with it obviously being a playoff situation.”

Freshman C.J. Sanders and BA ran past JPII in the playoff opener last week. (Photo by Renee Yarbrough for BHP)

Jud Potter, Baron’s backup, also will dress but his sprained ankle will probably keep him out again. Connor Johnson missed two weeks, but should be back.

Senior running back Radir Anoor has missed the entire season after knee surgery, and probably won’t be available for the playoff run at this point even if he gets released by the doctor. D’montre Wade, Jalen Ramsey and C.J. Sanders have all been effective in the backfield this season.

The Eagles are loading up on buses around noon, then stop about halfway there for a pre-game meal, arriving at CBHS about 4:45 p.m.

“They have a quarterback who is a pretty good athlete and is able to do something running & throwing,” Potter said. “Any time you have a dual-threat quarterback, it’s worrisome. Both their running backs are pretty good, and their wideout corps is better than average.

“They probably have better than average athletes in the secondary, and their noseguard can cause some issues.  He’s little at 5-6, about 260, and he plays hard so we’re concerned about him.”

In the DII-AA playoffs for larger independent schools with financial aid, this second round of the playoffs is the quarterfinals. The BA-CBHS winner will advance into next week’s semifinals against the Baylor-MBA winner, with the finals on Dec. 1 at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tenn.

Brentwood-Franklin tickets are on sale at the BHS front office until noon today.

Brentwood Academy-CBHS will be available on streaming video via the www.tssaanetwork.com website.