Making their 16th consecutive postseason appearance and 51st trip to the playoffs overall, the Brownwood Lions are targeting a third straight bi-district championship as they tangle with the former district rival Big Spring Steers at 7 p.m. Friday at San Angelo ISD Stadium.

The District 4-4A Division I third seed Lions (5-4) squared off with District 3 runner-up Big Spring (5-5) each of the past two seasons, with Brownwood coming out on top in those games 41-10 and 56-7.

While both teams are different this year, previous success against Big Spring has provided the Lions with an extra measure of credence in their preparations this week.

“We have confidence going in that we beat them the two previous years we played them,” said Lions seventh-year head coach Sammy Burnett. “On the reverse side, they know we’ve beat them twice and they have to bring their ‘A’ game.”

Burnett was also quick to point out that what happened in the most recent meetings will not result in the Lions coming into Friday’s contest overconfident.

“We’re going to keep our kids grounded,” Burnett said. “We talked with them about the opportunity they’ve been blessed with and what they do with it is their choice. You respect everyone but fear none, that means you do the work, go out there and be confident in who you are and have faith that we’re going to get it done, but don’t ever step out on the field and think people are just going to bow down because we’re the Brownwood Lions, it doesn’t work that way. We have to go earn everything we get.”

The Lions qualified for the playoffs with a 42-14 victory over Marble Falls last week as Brownwood finished with 424 total yards, including a season-high 311 rushing.

“Having two running backs with over 100 yards last week is important for our offensive line because they can see now that we can do what we need to do if we just go out there and work as a unit,” Burnett said, regarding Matthew Rodriguez’s 132-yard effort and 108 yards from Levi Pearson.

The Lions did commit three turnovers for the second game in a row – two fumbles and an interception returned for a touchdown that put Brownwood in an early 14-7 hole. Brownwood has coughed up the ball six times the last two games after committing just four turnovers through the first seven.

“There’s been more attention to detail in that area this week in practice,” Burnett said of ball security. “We always talk about protecting the ball. The two plays we fumbled were outstanding plays, just at the end we wound up losing the ball. It’s difficult to hold on to the ball when the other team is trying to punch it out so we have to make sure both hands are on the ball. The pick six was all our faults, the coaches fault on the play-call and then we didn’t execute well. All of us that caused that turnover.”

Defensively, the Lions yielded a 91-yard touchdown drive to Marble Falls in the first quarter last week, but surrendered only 59 yards the rest of the contest.

“Sometimes it takes time to settle in and that’s honestly a reason why I don’t like to be on offense first,” Burnett said. “I’d rather let the game start going, let the engine warm up, let our kids get in the game and then let our offense go out on the field after our defense makes a stop. When you defer as many times as we do, sometimes teams are going to score on the first drive, and they did a couple of things on that drive I thought were really clever.”

Big Spring enters Friday’s contest have faced only two teams with winning records and dropped those games by an average of 26 points. The Steers have defeated one of three teams on their schedule with three wins, while the other four wins are over teams with two, one, or no wins.

The five teams Big Spring defeated have combined record of 8-42 on the season, and the Steers averaged 38 points per game in the victories.

For the year, Big Spring produces 29 points per game on average, and allows 36 points per game, but in its five losses the Steers have yielded an average of 48 points per contest.

In Big Spring’s 28-21 second-seed clinching victory over Pecos (3-7) this past Friday, Steer quarterback AJ Yanez completed 18 of 29 passes for 174 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Yanez also rushed for 14 and a score.

Jacobi Lozano led Big Spring’s receivers with seven catches for 80 yards and two touchdowns, while Eithan Threats added seven grabs for 54 yards and a trip to the end zone.

On the ground, Isaic Martinez led the way for the Steers with 101 yards on just 13 carries.

“I thought Pecos was the more talented team, but it showed the character of Big Spring in that they found a way to win the game,” Burnett said. “They’re a solid team and they do what they’re asked to do. They don’t get beat because of busted assignments. They’re not as experienced as they’ve been in the past but it’s week 12 and young kids aren’t young anymore. The kids have had time to mature, develop and find themselves, and see who they are.”

In the Steers’ only district loss, 71-14 to Andrews (4-6), Big Spring trailed 57-7 at halftime and finished with 285 yards while giving up 503.

Yanez completed 10 of 18 passes for 118 yards with a touchdown and four interceptions, while also rushing for 41 yards.

Lozano caught six passes for 88 yards and scored once, while Xander Garza rushed for a team-high 62 yards on seven carries.

Brownwood enters the postseason averaging 24 points and 303 yards – 153 rushing and 150 passing – per game, with 10 turnovers.

Behind the line of Weston Wolf, Ian Barrera, Aidan Packheiser, Logan Flores and Isaiah Rosas, quarterback Judson Carlson has thrown for 1,272 yards with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions, while also rushing for 256 yards and three more scores. Primary receiving targets include Carson Noe (35-453, 3 TDs), Aaron Edmonds (23-243, 3 TDs) and Grant Gray (21-326, 3 TDs), while weapons out of the backfield include Matthew Rodriguez (160 yards, TD), Levi Pearson (153 yards, 2 TDs) and Noah Gonzalez (59 yards, 4 TDs).

Among the challenges the Lions will face against Big Spring, Burnett said, “They run a 4-2-5 which is what we saw from Stephenville. We have a good idea of what they want to do. They’ll vary their coverages a little bit, bring a little more heat off the edge, pressure the edge more and roll to a cover 3 and that’s something we’ve seen lately so we feel really comfortable with that. They’ll have six in the box and bring a linebacker from time to time, but they try to control the line with their front four.”

Defensively, for the year the Lions allow 26 points and 319 yards – 179 rushing and 140 passing – per outing, with eight takeaways.

Standouts include Brinson Martin (120 tackles, 2 for loss, 2 sacks), Noah Gonzalez (102 tackles, 3 for loss), Wyatt Wolf (80 tackles, 1 sack, 1 FR), Robert Trowbridge (74 tackles, 2 for loss), Caven Webster (58 tackles, 1 INT), Jack Field (47 tackles, 2 sacks), Devin Eanes (45 tackles, 2 for loss, 2 INTs), Enrique Vazquez (44 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 sack), Ben Wilson (42 tackles, 2 for loss), Weston Wolf (41 tackles, 3 for loss, 1 for loss, 1 FR), Raven Prado (38 tackles, 3 for loss, 1 INT, 1 FR), Julius Lara (37 tackles, 3 for loss), and Kenyan McDowell (25 tackles, 1 sack).

As for the Big Spring offense, Burnett said, “They like to run it this year a little bit more than they have in the past. They still like to throw it horizontal, the screens and those type passes, and they’ll go down field when they need to, but they do like to run it a little more. We’ll have our hands full.”

Friday’s winner will face either District 2 champion Canyon West Plains (7-3) or District 1 fourth seed Clint (4-6) in the area round of the playoffs next week.

According to Harris Ratings Weekly, Brownwood is a 38-point favorite.