[Article courtesy of Derrick Stuckly]

A week ago, the Brownwood Lions offense couldn’t get in gear and in Friday night’s District 5-4A Division I opener, the defense couldn’t find an answer for the Stephenville Yellow Jackets.

In the 79^th “Battle of 377” which dates back to 1937, the Lions kicked off league play with a 59-34 loss to archrival Stephenville Friday night at Gordon Wood Stadium.

Stephenville (3-3, 1-0) churned out 687 yards of total offense – 362 rushing and 325 passing – and never punted. The Yellow Jackets were successful on 11 of 16 third-down conversion attempts, opting to try three field goals – making just one – successfully converting a fourth-and-4, and the clock ran out on the last.

Meanwhile, the Brownwood (2-4, 0-1) offense showed plenty of signs of life, producing 373 total yards – 218 through the air and 155 on the ground – while also returning a kick for a touchdown. But four more turnovers, which translated directly to 24 Stephenville points, crippled the Lions’ chance at a district-opening victory.

“The difference was not getting off the field on third down, missing tackles, and then the turnovers have stopped us all year long and I don’t know why they’re happening but they are,” Burnett said. “But our kids never quit and that’s important to me. That’s a life lesson to me, when you face adversity you have to keep fighting.”

Stephenville running back Kason Phillips rushed for 251 yards and six touchdowns and also caught two passes covering 74 yards to finish with 325 yards of total offense. Phillips received the ball on 28 snaps and gained an average of 11.6 per play.

Yellow Jacket quarterback Gavin Rountree connected on 25 of 36 passes for 325 yards as Trace Morrison caught 10 passes for 68 yards, Coy Eakin added eight grabs for 123 yards and Reece Elston chipped in four receptions for 55 yards.

“I thought it was poor tackling and just not getting off the field on third down,” Burnett said of the defensive struggles. “We were in great position, I think our coaches put the kids in great position as they always do, we just have to get more physical and lead with our hat and wrap up and make tackles.”

The Lions offense – which in 28-7 loss to Abilene Wylie last week did not produce an offensive touchdown for the first time in five years – was sparked by three scoring connections between quarterback Blaize Espinoza and Jason Jackson, while Royshad Henderson rushed for 144 yards and a touchdown. Espinoza, filling in for the injured Chance Jones at quarterback, connected on 9 of 15 passes for 218 yards with the three scoring tosses and three interceptions. Jackson led all receivers with 156 yards on just five receptions, including the three trips to the end zone.

The recent rash of Brownwood turnovers – 10 in the last two games – gives the Lions 18 through six outings this season, an average of three per contest. In 2019 Brownwood gave the ball away just nine times, and in 2018 the Lions coughed up the ball a dozen times – a total of 21 turnovers in 23 games during a two-year stretch.

Brownwood also committed seven penalties for 47 yards against Stephenville, most of which hampered the offense at the most inopportune times.

“The penalties, getting behind the chains is what made us punt the ball and the turnovers are what stopped us. It wasn’t them,” Burnett said. “I thought our kids executed at times really well but when you’re facing a first down and 20, or you get a first down on third down and then you get a holding penalty that marches you back to third and 15 or something like that, you can’t win that way. We have to knock out the penalties and stop the turnovers and if we do that we’re going to put a lot more points on the board.”

The first period of Friday night’s showdown featured 31 points and 483 yards, as the Lions trailed just 17-14. The Yellow Jackets went on to score the next three touchdowns, however, as Brownwood was forced into catch-up mode the rest of the contest.

Stephenville opened the scoring with a 37-yard Phillips touchdown run just 89 seconds into the contest. Then, on Brownwood’s first play from scrimmage, Espinoza’s pass attempt was deflected and intercepted by Ryder Lambert – the first of his two picks in the game. Corbin Poston later booted a 24-yard field goal for the Yellow Jackets, who led 10-0 with 8:01 left in the opening period.

The Lions’ second play from scrimmage was a 79-yard touchdown scamper from Henderson – who last week rushed for just 59 yards on 17 carries – to close the gap to 10-7.

Reece Young plowed into the end zone from a yard out to extend Stephenville’s lead to 17-7 at 4:47 of the first, but the Lions answered with a 58-yard scoring strike from Espinoza – who started at quarterback in the season opener at Lampasas – to Jackson to trim the deficit to 17-14 with 2:53 remaining in the opening stanza.

The Lions didn’t score again until the 2:05 mark of the third period on another 58-yard hook up between Espinoza and Jackson, which made the score 38-21. In the span between Brownwood’s second and third touchdowns, Stephenville added scores on runs of 1 and 11 yards by Phillips, along with a 40-yard fumble return by Malachi Arredondo.

Stephenville tacked on two more touchdowns as Phillips scored from 25 and 30 yards out – the second of which was set up by a Grayson Traweek interception – to pad the Yellow Jackets’ cushion to 52-21 with 8:53 left.

Dane Johnson then returned a kick 93 yards for a Brownwood touchdown.

“I thought we did a good job in the special teams,” Burnett said. “We put ourselves in position on some kickoff returns to have a short field so I’m very pleased with that. And when we punted I thought we did a good job with that.”

Stephenville’s final touchdown came on a 24-yard run by Phillips with 5:13 left, while Brownwood scored once more with 2:21 remaining as Espinoza again found Jackson from 29 yards out for six points.

The Lions will attempt to rebound next week at Midlothian Heritage (4-2, 2-0), which rolled past Alvarado, 56-23, in its District 5-4A Division I opener Friday night. In other district action Friday, Waco La Vega mauled Waxahachie Life, 62-0.

“I did see some bright spots, there’s some good things that happened tonight,” Burnett said. “It is what it is, we’ll learn our lessons and do what we can t give ourselves a chance to get to the playoffs is what’s most important. I’ll take a bi-district championship over a district championship any time. If that becomes our goal it does, but we’re going to fight for four more games and see where we wind up.”

Stephenville 59, Brownwood 34

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Stephenville 17 14 7 21 – 59

Brownwood 14 0 7 13 – 34

SCORING SUMMARY

S: Kason Phillips 37 run (Corbin Poston kick), 10:31, 1^st

S: Poston 24 FG, 8:01, 1^st

B: Royshad Henderson 79 run (Junior Martinez kick), 7:41, 1^st

S: Reece Young 1 run (Poston kick), 4:47, 1^st

B: Jason Jackson 58 pass from Blaize Espinoza (Martinez kick), 2:53, 1^st

S: Phillips 11 run (Poston kick), 7:01, 2^nd

S: Malachi Arredondo 40 fumble return (Poston kick), 3:17, 2^nd

S: Phillips 1 run (Poston kick), 4:02, 3^rd

B: Jackson 58 pass from Espinoza (Martinez kick), 2:05, 3^rd

S: Phillips 25 run (Poston kick), 9:51,4^th

S: Phillips 30 run (Poston kick), 8:53, 4^th

B: Dane Johnson 93 kick return (kick failed), 8:37, 4^th

S: Phillips 24 run (Poston kick), 5:13, 4^th

B: Jackson 29 pass from Espinoza (Martinez kick), 2:21, 4th

TEAM STATS

Stephenville Brownwood

First Downs 29 12

Total Offense 687 373

Rushes-Yards 43-362 22-155
Passing Yards 325 218

Comp-Att-Int 25-36-0 9-15-3
Punts 0-0.0 2-34.0
Fumbles Lost 0 1

Penalties-Yards15-125 7-47

PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: Stephenville – Kason Phillips 26-275, Gavin Rountree 12-51, Santos Mata 1-23, Jeremiah Smith 3-12, Reese Young 1-1. Brownwood – Royshad Henderson 15-144, Blaize Espinoza 7-11.

PASSING: Stephenville – Rountree 25-36-0-325. Brownwood – Espinoza 9-15-3-218.

RECEIVING: Stephenville – Trace Morrison 10-68, Coy Eakin 8-123, Reece Elston 4-55, Phillips 2-74, Jackson Barkley 1-5. Brownwood – Jason Jackson 5-156, Malachi Revada 3-28, Dane Johnson 1-34.