(stats courtesy Derrick Stuckly Brownwood News) In their first game of the season, the Abilene Wylie Bulldogs marched into Gordon Wood Stadium and owned the place on Friday night handing the Brownwood Lions at 28-7 homecoming loss.
The Lions owned the lead at the conclusion of the first period, as Brownwood’s only points of the night were the result of Khyren Deal’s 21-yard interception return of a Valentine pass. Junior Martinez’s PAT gave the Lions a 7-0 edge with 1:37 left in the first period.
The last time Brownwood did not score an offensive touchdown occurred on Oct. 16, 2015 in Gordon Wood Stadium – a 7-3 loss to then-district rival Wylie, who later defeated the Lions 14-7 in the playoffs.
“All we did on offense was sort of throw up on ourselves,” said Lions third-year head coach Sammy Burnett. “It was absolutely poor execution on our part. We had at least five turnovers, we couldn’t get out of our own way. I take the blame for that, that’s on us as an offensive staff and an offensive unit. We just came out here and couldn’t execute, bottom line. We couldn’t run the ball, we couldn’t throw the ball, couldn’t keep the ball in our hands, dropped it every time we had an opportunity.”
The Lions (2-3) finished with 173 yards of total offense – 88 in the first half and 85 in the second, with three turnovers in each half. Brownwood rushed for just 30 yards on 25 carries. Royshad Henderson, coming off a 253-yard, three-touchdown effort in a 36-22 come-from-behind win over Burnet last week, was limited to a season-low 59 yards. Quarterback Chance Jones was harassed all night and ended up losing 37 yards on his 10 carries, half of which were sacks.
The Lions (2-3) finished with 173 yards of total offense – 88 in the first half and 85 in the second, with three turnovers in each half. Brownwood rushed for just 30 yards on 25 carries. Royshad Henderson, coming off a 253-yard, three-touchdown effort in a 36-22 come-from-behind win over Burnet last week, was limited to a season-low 59 yards. Quarterback Chance Jones was harassed all night and ended up losing 37 yards on his 10 carries, half of which were sacks.
Chance Jones did complete 14 of 19 passes for 148 yards, but two balls were picked off included one that was returned 50 yards for a touchdown by Jazhair George, who put Wylie (1-0) up by 21 points with 3:16 left following his pick six.
Photo courtesy Derrick Stuckly BROWNWOOD NEWS
Defensively, the Lions yielded 286 yards – 150 through the air and 136 on the ground – and created two takeaways. At halftime, Brownwood had limited Wylie to just 86 total yards and the score was tied at 7.
Brownwood will begin its District 5-4A Division I slate at home next week against Stephenville after the league coaches voted to move the Week 11 games to Week 6, just in case a COVID-19 outbreak results in a postponement.
Stephenville (2-3), fresh off a 46-33 victory over No. 3 Dumas Thursday night, was the furthest thing from Burnett’s mind Friday night, however.
“We better get better,” Burnett said. “We better not worry about Stephenville, we better worry about the Brownwood Lions right now.”
TEAM STATS
Wylie Brownwood
First Downs 18 11
Total Offense 286 173
Rushes-Yards 42-136 30-25
Passing Yards 150 148
Comp-Att-Int 11-24-1 14-19-2
Punts 4-32.5 3-47.3
Fumbles Lost 1 4
Penalties-Yards 7-72 2-22
PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: Wylie – Noah Beach 22-69, Balin Valentine 14-42, Trey Gomez 5-27, Jazhair George 1-(-2). Brownwood – Royshad Henderson 17-59, Blaize Espinoza 2-5, Dane Johnson 1-(-2), Chance Jones 10-(-37).
PASSING: Wylie – Valentine 11-24-1-150. Brownwood – Jones 14-19-2-148.
RECEIVING: Wylie – Creed Cooper 3-85, Reed Hughes 3-39, George 2-11, Landon Bailey 2-10, Gomez 1-5. Brownwood – Jason Jackson 5-68, Dane Johnson5-42, Elias Huerta 2-25, Malachi Revada 1-15, Henderson 1-(-2).