Taft’s Mad, Birmingham’s Glad, but Guess Who Won the Game?

It’s a Brave new world at Birmingham High.

Playing its first Northwest Valley Conference game Friday night since moving from the Valley Pac-8 Conference, Birmingham showed it could hold its own by taking defending conference champion Taft to the wire before falling, 17-15.

It was the first loss of the season for the Braves (3-1, 0-1 in conference play).

“These kids played a strong game against a strong team,” Birmingham Coach Chick Epstein said. “Heck, they played great.”

Epstein’s resurgent squad had a chance to tie the game late in the fourth quarter.

Senior running back Courtney Blunt scored on a 13-yard sprint around left end on a fourth-down-and-inches play, pulling the Braves to within two points with 2 minutes 34 seconds remaining.

But Birmingham went to Blunt once too often. He was tackled behind the line of scrimmage on a two-point conversion try.

Taft (3-1, 1-0) recovered an onside kick and ran out the clock.

And though Birmingham took solace in a narrow defeat to a talented team, Taft players and coaches were not pleased with their performance.

“That was the worst game we’ve played in the three years I’ve been here,” running back Jerry Brown said.

Coach Troy Starr offered a terse assessment: “We played poorly. We were fortunate to win this ballgame.”

They did, after all, have Brown.

Birmingham had just pulled to within 10-7 in the third quarter, on a 67-yard touchdown pass from Paul Prince to receiver Jason Howard, who caught seven passes for 138 yards.

But on the next play from scrimmage, Brown took a handoff and swept right, outracing two Birmingham defenders to the sideline, then turned upfield and slipped three arm tackles while dancing up the sideline for an 82-yard touchdown.

“They were getting close so I knew I had to come up with a big play,” Brown said.

Brown missed part of the first half because of breathing difficulties, which he and a team doctor attributed to dehydration. However, he finished with some healthy numbers: 181 yards in 21 carries.