SAN ANGELO – The Brownwood Lions’ 16th straight trip to the postseason began with a third consecutive bi-district championship thanks to a 56-13 thrashing of the Big Spring Steers Friday night at San Angelo ISD Stadium.
After experiencing their share of highs and lows during the regular season, Friday’s decision marked just the second time this year the Lions (6-4) recorded wins in consecutive weeks, and set up a showdown with Canyon West Plains (8-3) in the Class 4A Division I Region I area round of the playoffs at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22 in Snyder.
“This means everything to us in terms of trying to teach the kids to be resilient,” said Lions seventh-year head coach Sammy Burnett, whose record improved to 109-62 in his career and 51-30 at his alma mater. “In life you’re going to face adversity, you’re going to face success, but it’s how you handle those. Be humble in the times you’re successful and then through times of adversity have faith and know you can get up, dust yourself off, and continue to go. Through all the injuries that we’ve faced, and the different personnel we’ve played with week in and week out, our kids just kept on fighting through it and never lost faith in who they were. I’m proud they’re bi-district champions.”
The Lions generated a season-high 533 yards of total offense – 287 passing and 246 rushing – Friday night, while yielding 300 yards – 185 through the air and 115 on the ground – to the Steers (5-6), and creating a pair of takeaways.
“We had a great week of work, great attitudes, great work ethic and a desire to be bi-district champs,” Burnett said. “They came out from the get-go and set the tone early and dominated from start to finish.”
The Lions led 21-0 after one quarter and scored the first four touchdowns of the game en route to building a 35-7 halftime advantage. Brownwood tacked on three additional touchdowns in the third quarter, and Big Spring also reached the end zone again to cap the scoring.
Stone Ratliff sparked the Brownwood offense with a career-high nine receptions for 137 yards with a touchdown and he also rushed for a team-best 70 yards on just three carries – all end-arounds.
“They were putting their safeties real far back so we decided to do some check down routes and it worked really well,” said Ratliff, who missed more than half of the regular season with a hip injury and entered Friday’s game without a reception in 2024. “I’ll give credit to Coach (Dex) Dennard, our offensive coordinator, he told me all week he was going to get me the ball and he came through. I was out for a quite a while, it was hard not playing, but it was fun watching the guys succeed. Once I got back, I was ready to play.”
Quarterback Judson Coalson connected on 16 of 19 passes for 287 yards with three scoring tosses, including a pair to Grant Gray, who finished with two grabs for 62 yards. Aaron Edmonds added five receptions for 88 yards.
On the ground, four Lions reached the end zone as Kaleb Grabast rushed for 69 yards and a touchdown, Levi Pearson tacked on 48 yards with a score, Matthew Rodriguez contributed 27 yards and six points, and Noah Gonzalez added 25 yards and crossed the goal line twice.
“Balance is important,” Burnett said of the offense. “We have to be able to run the football to set up the pass. They started playing some man coverage because we were able to run the football and then we were able to beat them over the top. When knew any time they went into man free we were going to throw a fade and took advantage of them there.”
Defensively, Brinson Martin and Noah Gonzalez again led Brownwood in tackles while Raven Prado and Devin Eanes intercepted passes for the Lions, who have now recorded 10 takeaways on the season.
“We knew what they were going to run by how they lined up,” Gonzalez said. “If the running back was on the same side as the tight end we knew it was going to be a run, and if he was away from the tight end they were going to pass. We knew what they were going to do the whole night.”
Martin added, “We had noticed a lot of tendencies when we watched film and it came down to limiting the big plays and consistently getting after them, and not letting their hurry up offense beat us.”
Brownwood scored the first of its three first-period touchdowns on a 33-yard fade from Coalson to Gray, and the duo again connected before the quarter was over on a 29-yard catch and run to the end zone.
“Coach Dennard put the ball in my hands, Judson threw some perfect passes, and we executed,” Gray said of his two first-quarter touchdowns.
Gonzalez also reached the end zone on a 5-yard run before the opening stanza was complete.
The Lions pushed their advantage to 28-0 on Gonzalez’s second 5-yard scoring run of the night, but Big Spring closed the gap to 28-7 with 3:44 left before intermission on a 35-yard touchdown pass from AJ Yanez to Eithan Threats on a fourth-and-26.
“They got us on a busted coverage and that was our fault, something we did there that we didn’t prepare well enough for, so we take the blame for that,” Burnett said. “Other than that I thought the defense played outstanding.”
Brownwood stretched the lead back to 28 points before the break as Ratliff caught a 21-yard scoring toss from Coalson at the 1:28 mark of the second period, making the score 35-7.
“The opportunities they were giving us playing soft with their safeties, we were able to throw quick hitches to Stone and for him to do what he did with yards after the catch was big,” Burnett said. “But I’m glad we were able to open up that part of our offense and take advantage of things that were given to us.”
The Lions and Big Spring traded touchdowns to start the second half as Brownwood struck first on an 18-yard scoring jaunt by Rodriguez, then Yanez followed with a 2-yard pass to Kaleb Hansen to make the score 42-13 with 4:44 left in the third period.
Brownwood recorded the final two touchdowns before the third period ended as Pearson steamrolled one Big Spring defender, and carried three more into the end zone to finish a 17-yard touchdown run that boosted the advantage to 49-13.
Less than two minutes later, on the first snap for the Lion reserves – which followed Brownwood stuffing Big Spring on a fourth-and-1 run play – Kaleb Grabast broke free for a 31-yard touchdown for the final 43-point margin of victory.
“We were able to get some guys in the game that not only got into the game, but played well and did phenomenal at keeping the wheels rolling,” Burnett said.
Next week, the District 4 third-seeded Lions will face District 2 champion Canyon West Plains, which eased past District 1 fourth seed Clint, 42-8, Thursday night for its sixth win in a row.
“I know West Plains is a good football team and they do a lot of things,” Burnett said. “I got to see them on film already, and we’ve already got a little plan for them and we’re going to get prepared. We’re going to enjoy the ride home, but as soon as we get home the coaching staff will go to work. But for now we’re going to celebrate another bi-district championship and gold ball for the Brownwood Lions.”
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Brownwood 56, Big Spring 13
SCORE BY QUARTERS
| Brownwood | 21 | 14 | 21 | 0 | – 56 |
| Big Spring | 0 | 7 | 6 | 0 | – 13 |
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SCORING SUMMARY
Bwd: Grant Gray 33 pass from Judson Coalson (Eli Valenciano kick), 8:45, 1st
Bwd: Noah Gonzalez 5 run (Valenciano kick), 4:04, 1st
Bwd: Gray 29 pass from Coalson (Valenciano kick), 0:25, 1st
Bwd: Gonzalez 5 run (Valenciano kick), 5:20, 2nd
BS: Eithan Threats 35 pass from AJ Yanez (William Flores kick), 3:44, 2nd
Bwd: Stone Ratliff 21 pass (Valenciano kick), 1:28, 2nd
Bwd: Matthew Rodriguez 26 run (Valenciano kick), 8:36, 3rd
BS: Kaleb Hansen 2 pass from Yanez (kick failed), 4:44, 3rd
Bwd: Levi Pearson 17 run (Valenciano kick), 3:14, 3rd
Bwd: Kaleb Grabast 31 run (Valenciano kick), 1:43, 3rd
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| TEAM STATS | Brownwood | Big Spring |
| First Downs | 24 | 17 |
| Total Offense | 533 | 300 |
| Rushes-Yards | 33-246 | 35-115 |
| Passing Yards | 287 | 185 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 16-19-0 | 19-30-2 |
| Fumbles Lost | 0 | 0 |
| Penalties-Yards | 5-59 | 7-60 |
| Punts-Average | 0-0.0 | 4-31.7 |
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PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: Bwd – Stone Ratliff 3-70; Kaleb Grabast 8-69, TD; Levi Pearson 6-48, TD; Matthew Rodriguez 6-27, TD; Noah Gonzalez 5-25, 2 TDs; Riggs Gray 1-4; Judson Coalson 1-3. BS – Xander Garza 12-42; Isaic Martinez 12-33; Eithan Threats 1-20; Nathaniel Zarraga 1-12; AJ Yanez 9-8.
PASSING: Bwd – Coalson 16-19-0-287, 3 TDs. BS – Yanez 19-29-2-185, 2 TDs; Jacobi Lazano 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING: Bwd – Ratliff 9-137, TDs; Aaron Edmonds 5-88; Grant Gray 2-62, 2 TDs. BS – Threats 7-114, TD; Lazano 4-17; Garza 3-38; Kaine Valenzuela 3-13; Kaleb Hansen 2-3, TD.
KICKING: Bwd – Rory McNeese 0 of 1 FGs. Eli Valenciano 8 of 8 PATs.