WALL – The Brownwood Lions defense surrendered just 13 yards and one first down after halftime, which overshadowed numerous missteps on offense throughout the night, as seventh-year head coach Sammy Burnett’s squad finally opened its season Friday night with a 17-7 road victory over the Wall Hawks.
Class 4A Division I No. 7 Brownwood (1-0), which had its Week 1 game against Abilene Wylie canceled due to lightning, definitely looked the part of a team that had less on field experience than Class 3A Division II No. 9 Wall (1-1) thus far.
“Our defense won the game for us,” Burnett said. “The first half we looked like we were in the opening game of the season and had some mistakes. Offensively, we moved the ball well, especially in the second half, but we got in the red zone multiple times and didn’t come up with points. Whether it’s touchdowns or field goals, we’ve got to get points on the board. But our kids were resilient and our defense played a phenomenal game.”
Wall finished with just 137 yards of total offense – 94 through the air and 43 on the ground – with one turnover. At halftime, the Hawks had actually outgained the Lions 124-121 in total yardage in what was a 7-all tie at intermission.
“What helped with the adjustments we made was the ability to take the iPads in at halftime and see what was happening to make adjustments instead of ciphering out what the kids are telling you,” Burnett said. “We could see it on film both offensively and defensively. The adjustments we made were actually simple, we just have to stay with what we know we can do well.”
Offensively, the Lions finished with 299 total yards as 223 of those came from running back Trey Mosley, who in his Brownwood debut carried the ball 33 times and accounted for both of the team’s touchdowns.
“I prayed, I wanted to have a good night tonight,” Mosley, a transfer from Duncanville, said. “I wanted to have over 200 yards and I achieved it. It was a great night for me and the whole football team.”
Burnett added, “He’s got a long ways to go but that was a good start. He’s a north and south runner, we have to keep him from going east and west. He listened to me at halftime about that, and in the third and fourth quarter.”
Through the air, the Lions completed just 6 of 20 passes for 45 yards with one interception, as three different players received snaps at quarterback – starter Judson Coalson, Braeden Stacks and wildcat quarterback Julius Lara.
“We made a change at quarterback and I thought we got a different momentum swing when Braeden went in there,” Burnett said. “Judson did a good job in his first game at this level and in this offense; he struggled a little but no one ever gave up on him. When we put Stacks in Judson was there cheering him on. And Braeden Stacks, what a great testament to him. He gets his reps when we he can in practice and goes in and operates well. But we still have something to learn to there and figure out what we’re going to do.”
Knotted at 7 since midway through the second period, the Lions finally forged ahead and took their first lead of the night with 7:02 left in the contest.
Taking over at their own 40 after one of six Wall punts, with four coming in the second half, Brownwood traveled 41 yards to set up a go-ahead field goal attempt. Rory McNeese, who had missed from 44 yards at the end of the first half and 28 yards earlier in the second half, converted a 25-yard field goal attempt for a 10-7 Lions’ advantage.
Brownwood then forced a three-and-out on the next Wall possession, and a punt followed that River Prado returned 36 yards to the Hawk 19 yard line. On the next snap, Mosley rumbled into the end zone to extend to the lead to 17-7 with 5:36 remaining.
“I was mad at myself for dropping a punt earlier, but all I could do was forget about it and make a play the next play,” Prado said. “I couldn’t have done it without my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and without the entire team.”
The Lions shot themselves in the foot on several occasions from the opening drive until the last, which allowed Wall to hang around the duration of the contest.
Brownwood’s 11 offensive possessions averaged starting at the Lion 49, and four began at midfield or better, yet the maroon and white mustered just 17 points.
The ominous offensive tone began on the Lions’ first possession as, after Jack Field deflected a Wall punt that Noah Gonzalez picked up and returned, Brownwood started its first drive at the Hawk 30. But three plays later, after losing 18, the Lions were forced to punt.
The next drive for the Lions began at its own 49, and after three snaps another punt ensued.
A 14-play drive that started at the Brownwood 20 and chewed 5:37 off the clock eventually culminated with an off target 44-yard field goal try as the game remained at 7 at intermission.
The Lions started the second half with the ball at their own 30 and advanced to the Wall 31 before a series of fades toward the end zone were off target.
Caven Webster picked off Wall quarterback Landon York on the first snap of the next Wall series and returned the interception to the Hawk 18, and a personal foul made the situation first-and-goal at the 9 for the Lions.
“Coach had been talking to us all week about spots,” Webster said. “When they do spots they’re going to do a corner and a streak and I was just backing up to my landmark and saw the ball moving slow. I went for the turnover and got it, and saw all the blocks setting up.”
Unfortunately, three plays later Coalson was picked off in the end zone by Caleb Branden with 6:04 remaining in the third period.
The Lions generated 178 yards in the second half, with 152 coming on the ground, including 133 from Mosley.
“Offensively we did a great job in the third and fourth quarter dominating the line of scrimmage,” Burnett said. “They were bringing everybody but we sifted it out and started getting north and south with our running backs and started to impose our will and mash on them.”
Wall grabbed a 7-0 lead on the first play of the second period as Reid Robertson hauled down a 22-yard touchdown pass from Landon York, which bounced off the hands of Prado in the end zone.
Brownwood immediately answered with a 12-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a Mosley 18-yard touchdown carry a 7-7 tie with 8:23 left in the second period. Mosley appeared to be wrangled down behind the line scrimmage, but landed on a pile of lineman and bounced back to finish the play and reach the end zone.
“Any time you can do what we did, struggle a little bit but play great defense to stay in the ball game and come up with a win, that’s huge,” Burnett said. “That’s a good ball team we just played I don’t care what classification they’re in.”
On the injury front, Weston Wolf did return to the defensive line Friday night, but the wide receiver corps was dealt a blow.
“Stone Ratliff has a hip pointer and I don’t know how long he’ll be out, be it seems to be pretty severe,” Burnett said.
Next week, the Lions will play their first game at Gordon Wood Stadium this season as they welcome Class 4A Division II No. 2 Glen Rose (2-0), which downed Gatesville, 28-12, Friday night.
“I just want to see simple execution,” Burnett said of next week’s goals. “We a game under our belt now at game speed, we have to be able understand game speed now and we are to go out there and execute. Glen Rose is a very good football team and it’s going to take all we have to go out and compete and play hard with and stay in the ball game. The kids sort of found themselves in the second half, which is huge.”
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Brownwood 17, Wall 7
SCORE BY QUARTERS
| Brownwood | 0 | 7 | 0 | 10 | – 17 |
| Wall | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | – 7 |
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SCORING SUMMARY
W: Reid Robertson 22 pass from Landon York, (Lane Stansberry kick), 11:54, 2nd
B: Trey Mosley 18 run (Rory McNeese kick), 8:23, 2nd
B: McNeese 25 FG, 7:02, 4th
B: Mosley 19 run (McNeese kick), 5:36, 4th
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| TEAM STATS | B | W |
| First Downs | 16 | 9 |
| Total Offense | 299 | 137 |
| Rushes-Yards | 47-254 | 14-43 |
| Passing Yards | 45 | 94 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 6-20-1 | 15-24-1 |
| Fumbles Lost | 0 | 0 |
| Penalties-Yards | 5-42 | 3-30 |
| Punts-Average | 3-31.0 | 6-35.0 |
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PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: B – Trey Mosley 33-223, 2 TDs; Braeden Stacks 2-26; Judson Coalson 7-15; Julius Lara 1-0; Levi Pearson 3-(-2); Team 1-(-8). W – Hagyn Barbee 7-42; Thomas Leanos 13-7; Landon York 1-(-6).
PASSING: B – Coalson 3-14-1-29; Stacks 2-5-0-11; Lara 1-1-0-5. W – York 15-24-1-94, TD.
RECEIVING: B – Carson Noe 4-26; Aaron Edmonds 1-14; Caven Webster 1-5. W – Reid Robertson 4-53, TD; Briggs Jones 3-13; Brady Neal 2-(-4); Holt Teplicek 1-17; Barbee 1-6; Caleb Braden 1-4; Lane Stansberry 1-3; Kellan Oliver 1-1; Levi King 1-1.
KICKING: B – Rory McNeese 1 of 3 FGs, long of 25. 2 of 2 PATs. 3 punts for 93 yards, 31.0 average – 1 inside 20, 1 touchback