SNYDER – A season-high five turnovers, penalties at the most inopportune times, and the inability to slow down the offense of the Canyon West Plains Wolves were the ingredients that produced a season-ending 49-14 loss for the Brownwood Lions here Friday night in the Class 4A Division I Region I area round of the playoffs.
“We just got beat by a better team,” said Lions head coach Sammy Burnett, who concluded his seventh year at his alma mater with a 51-31 record to go along with a 109-67 career mark. “Our kids never quit fighting, never took a play off, and fought until the bitter end. I couldn’t be any prouder of them. They showed great character, they showed great class, and they showed a willingness to never quit and that’s what we want out of this program. It’s not about winning all the time, it’s about character and class, it’s about discipline, it’s about facing adversity and persevering through the adversity and continuing to fight and live life. You’re going to have downs in life and our kids are going to leave winners, I don’t care what the score was. I saw a bunch of young men that fought through it, never quit and never gave up on their teammates or themselves, and that means more to me and the Lion program.”
The Lions (6-5) committed half as many turnovers as it had the entire season in their finale, were flagged for five penalties in the first half alone that either crippled a Brownwood drive or gave West Plains (9-3) a first down, and yielded 510 yards of total offense – 306 on the ground and 204 through the air.
“We didn’t win the penalty battle, third and shorts and fourth and shorts we didn’t accomplish what we wanted to, and we didn’t continue some drives,” Burnett said. “I don’t want to speak negative, our kids fought their tails off and they just got beat by a better team tonight. I tip my hat to Canyon West Plains, they did a phenomenal job. They have a lot of speed, they’re big up front, and we gave up some big plays.”
Offensively, the Lions generated 333 yards – 232 on the ground and 101 through the air – but had trouble getting out of their own way most of the night with self-inflicted wounds stopping most of their possessions.
West Plains took a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the contest as Kane White-Tinsley intercepted Brownwood quarterback Judson Coalson – who passed for 94 yards and rushed for 94 yards, both team-highs – on the third snap of the game to set the Wolves up at the Lions 45. Two plays later, Slade Russell – who finished with a game-high 121 yards on the ground – scored the first of his two touchdowns on a 26-yard carry.
Brownwood answered on its second possession with a nine-play, 75-yard drive that culminated with a 6-yard scoring toss from wildcat quarterback Noah Gonzalez to Raven Prado, and Eli Valenciano’s extra point at the 6:56 mark of the first period knotted the score at 7.
The Wolves responded just four plays later as a 77-yard scoring drive was capped by a 52-yard keeper from quarterback Reid Macon – who rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 204 yards and three more scores.
Brownwood was stuffed on a fourth-and-2 at the Wolves 37 on the next drive, and West Plains then marched all the way the Lion 1, where Cavin Webster stripped the ball from Russell and pounced on the fumble just shy outside of the end zone.
The Lions pushed the ball from the goal line out to their own 40 before having to punt away the pigskin, and West Plains responded with a 66-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard scoring toss from Macon to Brody Bobo for a 21-7 Wolves lead midway through the second period.
Facing a third-and-1 at the West Plains 40 on their next drive, the Lions were called for an illegal man downfield to negate a first-down completion, and later failed to move the sticks on a fourth-and-2 run play.
This allowed the Wolves to regain possession and extend their lead before halftime as Russell’s 42-yard scamper with 91 seconds remaining in the second period put Brownwood in a 28-7 halftime hole.
West Plains started the second half with the ball and moved 91 yards in just seven plays as Macon connected with Lawson Betancourt on a 35-yard scoring strike to stretch the advantage to 35-7 just 2:16 into the second half.
The wheels began to come off for the Lions offense at this point, as the next three possessions ended in turnovers, and West Plains responded with a pair of touchdowns in that span – another touchdown pass from Macon to Betancourt from 10 yards out, followed by an 8-yard scoring sprint from Macon on the final play of the third quarter that made the score 49-7.
The Lions scored their final touchdown of 2024 with 7:19 left in the contest as Gonzalez – one of xx seniors on the roster – capped an 11-play, 75-yard trek with a 2-yard plunge out of the wildcat formation for the 49-14 final score.
The members of the Lions’ Class of 2025 concluded their careers with a third consecutive bi-district championship for Brownwood, 16th straight postseason appearance, 51st trip to the playoffs overall, and the program’s 78th postseason victory.
“We have a bunch of seniors that are going to leave here and whatever they accomplish, whatever endeavor they try to tackle they’ll be successful because they’re great character kids, great young men and great winners,” Burnett said. “We faced so much adversity this year with the injuries and the ups and downs. They blocked out the noise, the negative, and decided to do what they could do and control what they could control. They practiced every day with joy in their heart and did the best the could. What else can you ask of a young man than to go out there and leave it all on the line and give everything they had? In the end, that’s exactly what they did. They held their heads up and stuck their chests out and had pride in who they were, the jersey that they wore, and they’re winners.”
Next week in the Class 4A Division I Region I semifinals, Canyon West Plains faces Lampasas, while Stephenville clashes with Canyon Randall.
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West Plains 49, Brownwood 14
SCORE BY QUARTERS
| Brownwood | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | – 14 |
| West Plains | 14 | 14 | 21 | 0 | – 49 |
***
SCORING SUMMARY
WP: Slade Russell 26 run (Gipson Gnagy kick), 10:03
B: Raven Prado 6 pass from Noah Gonzalez (Eli Valenciano kick), 6:56, 1st
WP: Reid Macon 52 run (Gnagy kick), 5:27, 1st
WP: Brody Bobo 1 pass from Macon (Gnagy kick), 6:00, 2nd
WP: Russell 42 run (Gnagy kick), 1:31, 2nd
WP: Lawson Betancourt 35 pass from Macon (Gnagy kick), 9:44, 3rd
WP: Betancourt 10 pass from Macon (Gnagy kick), 2:41, 3rd
WP: Macon 8 run (Gnagy kick), 0:00, 3rd
B: Gonzalez 2 run (Valenciano run), 7:19, 4th
***
| TEAM STATS | Brownwood | West Plains |
| First Downs | 18 | 25 |
| Total Offense | 333 | 510 |
| Rushes-Yards | 37-232 | 35-306 |
| Passing Yards | 101 | 204 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 12-24-3 | 14-22-0 |
| Fumbles Lost | 2 | 1 |
| Penalties-Yards | 7-75 | 6-60 |
| Punts-Average | 2-30.0 | 1-38.0 |
***
PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: B – Judson Coalson 10-94; Levi Pearson 11-64; Matthew Rodriguez 11-51; Noah Gonzalez 4-30, TD; Grant Gray 1-(-7). WP – Slade Russell 12-121, 2 TD; Reid Macon 11-120, 2 TD; Hudson Hawley 8-30; Lawson Betancourt 1-26; Alex Lucero 2-8; Will Grisham 1-1.
PASSING: B – Coalson 10-21-3-94; Gonzalez 2-2-0-7, TD; Carson Noe 0-1-0-0. WP –Macon 14-22-0-204, 3 TDs.
RECEIVING: B – Gray 4-49; Noe 3-20; Raven Prado 2-7, TD; Braeden Stacks 1-9; Devin Eanes 1-9; Rodriguez 1-7. WP –Kane White-Tinsley 5-86; Brody Bobo 3-13, TD; Betancourt 2-45, 2 TDs; Russell 2-39; Kaden Hooker 2-21;
KICKING: B – Eli Valenciano 2 of 2 PATs.
Eli Valenciano 2 punts, 60 yards, 30.0 average – 0 inside the 20