TUSCOLA – The 7-on-7 season came to an end Saturday at the Jim Ned qualifier for the Brownwood Lions, who fell to Lubbock Christian, 26-19, defeated Shallowater, 21-20, and dropped a 25-12 decision to host Jim Ned.
“What we wanted to see from 7-on-7 for the season, we saw,” said Lions head coach Sammy Burnett, who observed Saturday’s action. “I’m thankful to the kids for their commitment to being here. We understand where we are right now as a team and what we need to work on going into personnel and those types of things when we go into the season. I saw what our goal was as a coaching staff. Does it mean we don’t get to go to College Station, yes it does, but it has no bearing whatsoever on the fact that we plan to go out and win a state championship.”
The Lions scored on 9 of 16 possessions – 56 percent – Saturday, while allowing touchdowns on 11 of 19 opponent drives – 59 percent – which marked the first time Brownwood had a lower scoring percentage in a tournament this summer.
Brownwood used three quarterbacks on offense who combined to complete 35 of 64 passes – a 55 percent success. Braden Stacks led the way going 20 of 38 with five touchdowns and his lone interception of the summer, Rory McNeese connected on 10 of 15 attempts with three scoring tosses and a pick, and Hamilton transfer Judson Coalson made his debut and completed 5 of 11 tosses with a pair of drops from the receiving corps.
Carson Noe finished with a team-best 10 receptions and scored twice for the Lions, while another Hamilton transfer – Devin Eanes – hauled in seven receptions with a pair of touchdowns. Levi Pearson also grabbed seven catches, Grant Gray contributed six receptions and a team-high three touchdowns, and Conner Cornelius finished with five catches and reached the end zone once.
“We have an opportunity to choose from three quarterbacks and it’s their job to prove to us that they’re the guy, but when you have options what a blessing,” Burnett said. “Receiver-wise, Grant Gray has turned into a phenomenal receiver that balances out with Carson Noe on the other side so now you can’t pick on one, you better cover them both. Then we have two slot receivers, both were out today because of injuries, but we had other kids step in so we’ll be well-versed.”
Defensively, Kenyan McDowell intercepted two passes in the finale against Jim Ned and Durham Brown nabbed a pick against Shallowater. Another interception by Keedon Brooks was negated by a four-second call, the equivalent of a sack in 7-on-7.
“We have kids in new positions learning those positions on defense,” Burnett said. “On the back end, Raven Prado played corner for the first time and did a good job. Kenyan McDowell on the other side is a guy we rely on to be a leader on the defense, and he’s made some great plays. Noah Gonzalez, he’s setting us up and running the defense, so there were a lot of bright spots there.”
In Brownwood’s lone victory of the day, the Lions led 14-6 at the break as McNeese connected with Gray and Eanes on scoring tosses. Shallowater drew even at 14, but the Lions regained a 21-14 edge on Stacks’ touchdown pass to Cornelius. Shallowater scored again in the closing seconds, but could not convert the extra point as the Lions held on for the win.
In the opener against Lubbock Christian, the score was tied at 13 at halftime on scoring tosses from Stack to Eanes and Noe. After a stop on the first Lubbock Christian drive of the second half, the Lions turned the ball over on an interception. LC responded with a touchdown, then Brownwood closed the gap to 20-19 on a touchdown from McNeese to Gray, but the extra point was denied. The Lions then allowed another touchdown in the closing seconds for the seven-point margin.
In the finale against Jim Ned, the Lions fell behind 19-0 at halftime as Brownwood completed just three passes – one by each quarterback, with one interception – on three first-half possessions. In the second half, Stacks connected with Noe and Gray for Brownwood’s two touchdowns.
“The last game we didn’t score when we had opportunities to score,” Burnett said. “If you want to measure us by not going to the state tournament that’s your prerogative, but what our goal was as a coaching staff and with our kids and what we wanted to see, I think we accomplished and I’m proud of that.”
In nine 7-on-7 state qualifier games, the Lions posted a 5-4 record as the offense scored on 29 of 53 possessions – 55 percent – and produced 21 points per contest, with six drives ending via interception.
The Lions quarterbacks combined to complete 128 of 215 passes – 60 percent – as McNeese was 64 of 101 with 14 scoring tosses and five picks, while Stacks connected on 59 of 103 attempts with 14 touchdowns and one interception, and Coalson was 5 of 11 in his lone tournament.
The receiving corps has been led by Noe (34 catches, 4 TDs), Gray (31 catches, 13 TDs), Aaron Edmonds (17 catches, 5 TDs), Cornelius (14 catches, 1 TD), Pearson (10 catches, 1 TD), Eanes (7 catches, 2 TDs), Stone Ratliff (7 catches, 1 TD), Tre Mosley (3 catches, 1 TD), McDowell (3 catches), Trae Jones (1 catch) and Brown (1 catch).
Defensively, the Lions yielded touchdowns on just 26 of 57 possessions – 46 percent – and gave up 19 points per game on average.
The Lions recorded nine interceptions – at least one in all but one outing – with two returned for touchdowns. McDowell led the charge with three picks, Gonzalez and Prado each intercepted two passes and Noe and Brown also tallied one interception apiece. Noe and Prado scored the two defensive touchdowns.
Looking ahead to the rest of the summer, Burnett said, “We’ll be off until the 17th then go back to work with strength and conditioning. We’ll keep using our time to work on installing what we do with our linemen, getting ready for August so we can be more than one step ahead and get off to a running start.”