The Brownwood Lions will wrap up their second week of preseason practice with the first of two scrimmages as the Class 4A Division II Salado Eagles visit Gordon Wood Stadium Friday morning.
The JV and freshman teams will take the field at 10 a.m., on opposite ends of the stadium, while the varsity teams will scrimmage at 11 a.m.
Salado, under the direction of head coach Alan Haire, is coming off an 11-2 playoff campaign in 2020. The Eagles – picked to finish second in District 9-4A Division II behind China Spring, according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football – return 24 of 52 lettermen, including four starters on each side of the ball.
“You can rank them right up there with a China Spring or a Carthage honestly,” Burnett said. “Coach Haire has been there a while and they do a good job. Salado’s a good football team, they scored more than 60 points against Stephenville last year.”
For the Lions – who finished 4-6 last season – the objectives are to further improve upon their new up tempo offense and put forth a dominant defensive effort.
“Our goal is be physical – control the line of scrimmage on offense and be dominant on defense,” Burnett said. “Defensively I want to see us fly around to the football and make plays when we can. Offensively we just need to go out there and throw and catch, get our blocking assignments and move the football on the ground. I want to continue to work on going fast on offense and execute going fast, make sure we’re doing everything we’re asking the kids to do.”
Salado will present an offense the Brownwood defense will not see during the regular season, and the coaching staff has noted there will be no game plan prepared for the Eagles specifically.
“They run the slot-T like Liberty Hill,” Burnett said. “They run to the line, they’re going to misdirection you and have backs going everywhere. It’s going to be difficult for us because we’re not going to scheme them, we’re going to get in a base defense and play. They’ll get us on a couple of things and that’s OK.”
The format for Friday’s scrimmage is as follows:
Brownwood 1st Defense vs. Salado 1st Offense 12 plays
Brownwood 1st Offense vs. Salado 1st Defense 12 plays
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Brownwood 2nd Defense vs. Salado 2nd Offense 12 plays
Brownwood 2nd Offense vs. Salado 2nd Defense 12 plays
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Brownwood 1st Defense vs. Salado 1st Offense 10 plays
Brownwood 1st Offense vs. Salado 1st Defense 10 plays
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Brownwood 2nd Defense vs. Salado 2nd Offense 10 plays
Brownwood 2nd Offense vs. Salado 2nd Defense 10 plays
Scrimmage rules
- Each drive will start at the -30 yard line
- The ball returns to the -30 if a first down is not achieved in three downs, unless inside the +20
- The +20 yard line will be 4 down territory
- The drive will be continued past the play limit if the ball is inside the +20
- If a penalty is taken, it does not count toward the play count. If a penalty is declined, the play counts.