Russellville beaten at Briarwood Christian, ending season in second round of Class 5A playoffs

The 2025 season came to an end for the Russellville High School varsity football team (7-5) Friday night as the Golden Tigers fell to the Briarwood Christian School Lions (7-5) by a final score of 42-7 in the second round of the AHSAA Class 5A playoffs.

Briarwood had Russellville’s number once again: the defeat dropped the Golden Tigers to 0-4 all-time against the Lions, all four games coming in postseason play.

In the matchup in Birmingham Friday night, the hosts dominated and controlled the contest from the opening kickoff.

After receiving the opening kick, the Lions needed just a couple of plays to open their account for the evening. Briarwood’s John Campbell recorded the game’s first touchdown of the night on a reverse that went 49-yards for the score, making it 7-0 with 10:40 remaining in the first quarter.

Russellville’s offense—able to move the ball down the field in spurts throughout the night but couldn’t finish drives in the endzone—however, got off to a disastrous start.

Sophomore quarterback Whit Goodwin threw his ninth interception of the season on the Golden Tigers’ first drive. The pick was returned to the RHS 10-yard line, setting up an easy 10-yard touchdown rush for running back Eli Thompson.

Briarwood would add two more touchdowns in the first half—one late in the first quarter, the other midway through the second—to make it 28-0 at the break.

In the second half, the Lions scored twice more to take a 42-0 advantage before Russellville was finally able to get into the endzone on a 15-yard rush by sophomore Braxton Duncan—his first of the season—with 1:34 to play in the fourth.

Russellville’s seven points were the fewest it scored all season and the final 35-point deficit made it the most lopsided defeat for the Golden Tigers in 2025.

“Looking back at it, I do think we missed some things that, if we had executed on them, the game wouldn’t have gone quite as negatively as it did,” Russellville head coach Dustin Goodwin said.

“Briarwood is a really good football team, and (Friday) night we weren’t the best team on the field,” he added, “but that doesn’t take away from how we feel about our kids and our coaches—how proud of them we are.”

The loss obviously ended Russellville’s campaign, but Goodwin said his players should be celebrated for what they were able to accomplish up to that point.

“In the spring (the players) faced a lot of adversity. There was a lot of talk that they wouldn’t win but one or two football games,” he said. “Instead of cutting and running, these guys stuck together, believed in what we were preaching, came to work every day, and were able to be a region runner-up and win a playoff game. We’re very proud of them for that.”

Goodwin also credited his nine seniors for setting an example for what was a young roster.

“I don’t remember a day when a single senior kid didn’t show up for practice or didn’t do what they were asked to do,” he said. “I think they grew in their leadership roles and were encouraging to their teammates and tried to hold everyone accountable the right way. I think everyone on the team felt that.

“These nine young men are great people, and I believe they’re going to be successful no matter what they decide to do,” he added.

Looking back on the journey his team went on, Goodwin said the 2025 Golden Tiger football team will be remembered for its ‘grit’ and ‘fight,’ among other things.

“What the outside world thinks doesn’t define you. Winning and losing football games isn’t what’s going to define these kids,” he said. “The way they showed up, the way they bought in and prepared, the way they loved on each other; the effort they gave, their refusal to lose, their relentlessness and fight, their grit—all of those things are characteristics they have that are going to carry them far beyond the football field and sports in general. We’re very proud of them.”