Following a 17-7 road victory over the Class 3A Division II No. 9 Wall Hawks that featured its share of ups and downs, the Class 4A Division I No. 7 Brownwood Lions, according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, welcome the Class 4A Division II No. 2 Glen Rose Tigers to Gordon Wood Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Friday for the home opener.
The Lions (1-0), who were originally slated to open their season at home Aug. 30 against Abilene Wylie in a game that was canceled due to weather, allowed just 137 yards of total offense last week at Wall – including 13 yards and one first down in the second half – but Glen Rose will present a far greater challenger.
The Tigers (2-0) enter the contest averaging 38 points and 384.5 yards per outing, with 309 of those yards coming through the air, as Glen Rose owns victories over Grandview (48-13) and Gatesville (28-12) thus far in 2024.
“Glen Rose has a lot of returners back from last year, they’re a very senior-heavy team,” said Lions seventh-year head coach Sammy Burnett. “They’re led by their quarterback Canyon Evans, and he’s very good. They’ve gone to a lot of throwing the football this year and they really lean on him a lot. When they do run the football, they run it well, but I think their M.O. is their passing game. He’s a kid that’s not going to read it and run, or we haven’t seen that yet, he’s going to hand it off or throw an RPO.”
Evans has completed 54 of 73 passes for 618 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions, while leading receivers for the Tigers include Josiah Groeneweg (17-188, TD), Adrian Sanchez (14-184, TD), and Brodey Bowman (10-134, TD). Out of the backfield, Braylon Reid (66 rushing yards) and Braydon Brewton (56 rushing yards, TD) have received the most carries, while Keltyn Raymond (20 rushing yards, 3 TDs) serves in a goal line/wildcat type role.
Brownwood’s defense, which gave up just 94 yards through the air and 43 yards on the ground last week, is anchored by Brinson Martin (11 tackles), Caven Webster (7 tackles, 1 INT), Weston Wolf (7 tackles, 1 for loss), Ben Wilson (6 tackles, 1 for loss), Robert Trowbridge (6 tackles), Ian Barrera (6 tackles), Noah Gonzalez (5 tackles, 1 for loss), Devin Eanes (5 tackles), Jack Field (4 tackles), Enrique Vazquez (4 tackles), Raven Prado (3 tackles) and Kenyan McDowell (3 tackles).
“What we’re going to try and do defensively is take away their passing game,” Burnett said. “If they beat us, it has to be with the running game, and we do a pretty good job at stopping the run. If we can reduce their ability to throw the football, it’s going to give us a better chance to be victorious. We have to stay aggressive, we did a good job of fitting last week, but we need to shore up our tackles. We gave them yards after contact from dropping our heads or not putting a shoulder into the man and trying to arm tackle. In the back end, we had opportunities to make plays on one-on-one balls and they were in the right position, but didn’t play the ball well, which led to some pass interference calls, and we worked on that a lot this week.”
On the flip side of the ball, the Tigers have allowed no more than two touchdowns in a game, are yielding 12.5 points on average, and have created six turnovers.
Leading the charge for the Glen Rose defense are Raymond (20 tackles, 4 for loss, 2 sacks), Uli Muro (18 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 INT), Caden Marrs (15 tackles, 2 for loss), Meritt Brewer (15 tackles), Ryder Ribitzki (15 tackles 1 for loss), and Cristian Ballesteros (14 tackles).
Offensively, the Lions came away from several scoring opportunities empty-handed last week, an area that must improve going forward. Brownwood rushed for 254 yards, with 223 yards and both touchdowns coming from Trey Mosley, but through the air quarterbacks Judson Coalson and Braeden Stacks combined to complete 5 of 19 passes for 40 yards with one interception.
As for who will play quarterback against Glen Rose, Burnett said, “We’ll make a decision before the game Friday on who starts the game, and who starts the game doesn’t mean they finish the game. We’re waiting for one of those guys to step up and take the lead and take hold of the reins and do the things we ask them to do – slow the game down, read the defense, and take what the defense is giving you.”
The offensive line is also reshuffling again this week as well.
“We made some changes up front and moved Isaiah Rosas back to center, moved Luke Hagood to left guard and put Ian Barrera at right tackle,” Burnett said. “We’re still trying to find the right fit. I think we have a good look right now, but they’re still trying to gel and trying to find themselves. For us, we go as they go. They’re the heartbeat of the team and we have to control the line of scrimmage up front. That’s most important. We have to be able to run the football, that sets up our pass.”
Burnett added moving Rosas out of the center spot earlier this season was due to his trouble snapping the ball, but Rosas has changed from a one-handed snap to using both hands, which has yielded better results.
The Lions are also looking for a better performance in terms of special teams, specifically the field goal department in which they converted just one of three attempts.
“We missed two of three field goals and we can’t do that again,” Burnett said. “We have to take points where we can get them. We felt like we should have scored 40 last week. We were in the red zone multiple times and didn’t score, so we have to find a way to lock in and focus. When the field gets reduced it’s a lot more difficult to get gains, but we have to find a way to overpower them and win the red zone game.”
On the injury front, Aiden Driskill is still a couple of weeks away from returning from a broken leg, while receiver Stone Ratliff is out at least five weeks with an avulsion fracture in the hip area, suffered against Wall. Devin Eanes, Raven Prado, and Levi Pearson will fill in at inside receiver in the absence of Ratliff.
According to Harris Ratings Weekly, Brownwood is a 4-point underdog.
***
Brownwood Lions 2024 Football Season Stats
Through 1 Game (1-0)
TEAM OFFENSE
17.0 points per game (17)
299.0 yards per game (299)
254.0 rushing yards per game (254)
45.0 passing yards per game (45)
30.0 completion percentage (6 of 20)
PASSING
* Judson Coalson
3 of 14 for 29 yards, 1 INT
* Braeden Stacks
2 of 5 for 11 yards
* Julius Lara
1 of 1 for 5 yards
RUSHING
* Trey Mosley
223 yards on 33 carries, 2 TDs
* Braeden Stacks
26 yards on 2 carries
* Judson Coalson
15 yards on 7 carries
* Julius Lara
0 yards on 1 carry
* Levi Pearson
-2 yards on 3 carries
* TEAM
-8 yards on 1 carry
RECEIVING
* Carson Noe
4 catches, 26 yards
* Aaron Edmonds
1 catch, 14 yards
* Caven Webster
1 catch, 5 yards
###
TEAM DEFENSE
7.0 points per game (7)
137.0 yards per game (137)
43.0 rushing yards per game (43)
94.0 passing yards per game (94)
62.5 opponents’ completion percentage (15 of 24)
TACKLES
* Brinson Martin
11 tackles
* Caven Webster
7 tackles, 1 INT
* Weston Wolf
7 tackles, 1 for loss
* Ben Wilson
6 tackles, 1 for loss
* Robert Trowbridge
6 tackles
* Ian Barrera
6 tackles
* Noah Gonzalez
5 tackles, 1 for loss
* Devin Eanes
5 tackles
* Jack Field
4 tackles
* Enrique Vazquez
4 tackles
* Raven Prado
3 tackles
* Kenyan McDowell
3 tackles
###
KICKING
* Rory McNeese
1 of 3 FGs – long of 25
2 of 2 PATs
5 points
3 punts, 93 yards, 31.0 average – long of 48; 1 inside opponents’ 20
###
TURNOVER MARGIN (0)
* Brownwood: 1 (1 interception)
* Opponents: 1 (1 interception)
###
PENALTIES
* Brownwood: 5 for 42 yards (5 for 42 per game)
* Opponents: 3 for 30 yards (3 for 30 per game)