EARLY – The Brownwood Lions sputtered to the finish line in their first game Saturday, then rallied from early deficits to claim victories in their final two outings as they finished with a 2-1 record at the Brownwood 7-on-7 Division II state qualifier.
Games were moved from Brownwood High School to Early’s Longhorn Stadium due to rains late in the week, and the Lions opened with a 33-20 loss to Whitney despite leading by seven points at halftime. Brownwood then overcame an early touchdown deficit to former district rival San Angelo Lake View for a 27-7 victory, and climbed out of a 14-point hole against another old league foe in Andrews for a 42-20 triumph to end the day.
“I’m proud of what we did, but if you want to qualify you have to win your pool and to do that you have to win all three games,” said Lions head football coach Sammy Burnett, who observed Saturday’s action. “There hasn’t been a game we played in 7-on-7 yet that the team beat us, we but ourselves, and the kids understand that. Our future is dictated by what we do, not what someone else does, so it we fix that we’ll be fine.”
The Lions scored on 12 of 20 possessions, or 60 percent, as the Brownwood quarterback duo of Rory McNeese and Braeden Stacks combined to complete 52 of 81 passes – 64 percent – 12 with touchdowns and two interceptions. McNeese saw the bulk of the snaps this week and connected on 38 of 58 passes – 66 percent – with eight scores and two picks, while Stacks went 14 of 23 – 61 percent – with four tosses to the end zone.
“What I did like is we opened the playbook a little bit more,” Burnett said. “We’re still getting set on one guy instead of reading what the defense is giving us. We need some work in area, but I asked for growth and I did see growth. Opening up our playbook a little bit is giving us a better chance to get people open, so that was a positive. But I still believe if we touch the football we ought to score and we didn’t do that all the time today.”
Leading receivers included Grant Gray with 17 catches and seven touchdowns; Aaron Edmonds with 10 receptions and four scores; Carson Noe with 10 grabs; Conner Cornelius with nine catches in his first tournament of the season; Tre Mosley with two and a touchdown; Kenyan McDowell added two grabs; and Trae Jones and Durham Brown each hauled in a reception.
Defensively, the Lions allowed the opposition to score on just eight of 20 possessions, a 40 percent success rate. For the second week in a row, the Lions recorded one interception in each game, as Raven Prado led the way with two, including a pick six that started the scoring against Whitney. Noah Gonzalez intercepted the other pass for the Brownwood defense.
“If our defense is doing that, why aren’t we winning,” Burnett said. “It goes back to what we’re doing offensively. Every time we touch the ball we should score, we should never have a three-and-out. We have great receivers and capable quarterbacks, we have to continue to make plays. They just have to take the coaching and apply it in a game.”
In the opener against Whitney, the Lions led 20-13 at halftime on two scoring tosses from McNeese to Gray and another to Mosley. Clinging to a 20-19 lead in the second half, the Lions failed to score on their final three drives as two ended with interceptions by McNeese, including a pick six that capped the scoring.
“We came out slow the first game offensively and defensively and it cost us,” Burnett said. “Not getting started early against Whitney gave them the opportunity to play for a chance to go to College Station and we’re not. But I tip my hat to them for doing what they did, we just have to fix what we did.”
Against Lake View, the Lions were down 7-0 and facing a potential two-score deficit when a goal stand line by the defense ignited the rally.
Brownwood fired back with touchdown passes from Stacks to Edmonds and Gray for a 13-7 halftime edge. In the second half, Edmonds and Gray both scored again on passes from Stacks, and Prado picked off his second pass of the day as the Lions pulled away.
“We got behind in the second two games but overcame that because we got in a rhythm and started executive offensively and getting off the field defensively, which was big,” Burnett said. “But what you want to do if you want to qualify is do that from start to finish. You have to come out with your hair on fire and when you have opportunities to put the ball in the end zone, you have to score.”
Down two touchdowns to Andrews, the Lions were able to seize a 15-14 lead at intermission. McNeese hit Gray for a touchdown and Noe for the two-point conversion to bring the Lions within 14-8, then a Gonzalez interception set the table for a McNeese touchdown to Edmonds and another extra-point catch by Noe for the one-point halftime edge.
McNeese led the Lions on six consecutive scoring drives as Brownwood found the end zone four more times in the second half as Gray scored on three more occasions and Edmonds added another touchdown reception.
“That’s our potential and if we do that every game, we don’t lose,” Burnett said. “I told the kids if you do what you know how to do, the way you’re taught, there’s nobody here that would beat us, nobody last week that would beat us, and nobody next week that will beat us. If we just do what we’re taught to do.”
The second Brownwood team competing in the tournament posted a 1-2 record in its pool. After losses of 47-12 to Graham and 26-0 to Benbrook, the Lions finished the day with a 34-13 triumph over Clyde.
Whitney, with a 41-14 victory over Benbrook in Early, and Decatur, with a 27-6 triumph over Ponder in Bangs, earned the two spots in the 7-on-7 Division II state field June 27-28 in College Station.
The Lions have one more chance to qualify next Saturday in Jim Ned, as Brownwood seeks a 24th consecutive trip to the state tournament.
“I’d still like to see a little bit more offensively, and defensively we’re still looking in the backfield a little too much and trying to see what the quarterback is doing instead of covering our guy,” Burnett said. “If we fix that next week at Jim Ned, we’ll be fine.”