The District 2-4A Division I champion and eighth-ranked Brownwood Lions begin their 49th postseason run in school history seeking their 73rd playoff win overall as they tangle with the El Paso Irvin Rockets, the fourth seed out of District 1-4A Division I, in Region I bi-district playoff action.
Kickoff between the Lions (8-2) and Irvin (2-8) is slated for 7 p.m. Thursday at Odessa’s Ratliff Stadium.
The Lions are making their 14th consecutive trips to the playoffs, but have gotten out of the first round just once since 2015 – that coming in head coach Sammy Burnett’s second season in 2019 en route to an 11-2 campaign.
Carrying the highest ranking of any 4A Division I Region I team into the playoffs, Burnett – now in his fifth season as Lions head coach – said of this year’s postseason expectations.
“I can relate this team to the 2019 team in that they’re a very athletic group of kids and they have a mental focus that exceeds expectations,” Burnett said. “They’re ready and they expect to make a run. There are some very worthy opponents out there, but as we went into our open week and got healthy, we’re as healthy now as we’ve been all year. The regular season and district are over, but we feel like we have some unfinished business. Our kids are hungry, they come in and work hard every day, they listen to what their coaches are telling them to do and they have high expectations for themselves. They believe in each other and the coaching staff, so it’s a great culture right now.”
The Lions are coming off an undefeated district run in which they outscored their four foes 50-11 on average, while Irvin owns wins over a 2-8 San Elizario (22-12) squad in district as well as 5-5 Class 5A Division II El Paso High (43-20)
The Rockets average 19 points and 249 yards – 129 rushing and 120 passing – per game, and allow 38 points per contest with 18 takeaways, including 13 fumble recoveries.
Quarterback Isaac Guerrero has completed 76 of 175 passes for 1,057 yards with 12 touchdowns and six interceptions. Jonathan Chairez has caught 50 of Irvin’s 91 completions for the season for 779 yards and eight touchdowns. Giovanni Soto is the second-leading receiver with just nine catches for 59 yards. Soto also leads the Rockets with 624 yards on the ground and five touchdowns, while Guerrero has chipped in 516 rushing yards and five touchdowns.
“They give some tendencies away with what they want to do and we have a good scheme for that,” Burnett said. “We’re going to take away some of the things like that to do based on motions and things like that. They like to motion away and get Chairez isolated by himself, about 90 percent of the passes go to him, so we’ll always have him bracketed in some form or fashion which will allow us to heat the quarterback up a little bit. We need be strong up front with our defensive line and push them around and not let their quarterback get comfortable, and dominate up front against the run game.”
The Lions defense is yielding just 17 points and 289 yards – 160 rushing and 129 rushing – for the season, while Brownwood has created 11 of its 19 takeaways for the season since the start of district competition.
Stalwarts on the defense include Sam Kallman (90 tackles, 3 sacks, 3 for loss, 1 interception, 1 fumble recovery), Chance Jones (90 tackles, 5 sacks, 1 for loss, 1 punt block), Quinten McCarty (89 tackles, 12 for loss, 2 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 punt block), Jake Jetton (77 tackles, 3 for loss, 2 fumble recoveries), Stevie Ramirez (59 tackles, 3 sacks, 2 for loss, 1 fumble recovery), Hayden Noe (47 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 PBU), Cole Miller (40 tackles, 1 for loss, 2 sacks, 1 fumble recovery), Case Markham (37 tackles, 1 interception, 1 PBU), Noah Barron (35 tackles), Jaylan Brown (31 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 for loss), Jordyn Nickerson (31 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 interception), Davis Le (31 tackles), Hayden Deen (26 tackles, 1 for loss), and Morsello Hooker (25 tackles, 1 for loss, 6 interceptions, 10 PBUs).
Regarding the 11 turnovers forced in the last four games, Burnett said, “That comes practice and working on techniques, whether it’s the way we peddle, the way we drop to a coverage, the way we stick and drive routes, things like that with the secondary to get some interceptions. And the fumbles come from just being physical, more physical than your opponent and causing turnovers. Those turnovers also come from our kids knowing where they’re supposed to be, they understand the system and what we’re trying to do in the game plan, and just being a little bit faster than the other team.”
Brownwood’s offense – behind the front wall of Isaac Gray, Slayde Espinoza, Roan Aguinaga, Damian Sanchez, and Chris Robinson – is generating 40 points and 410 yards – 240 rushing and 170 passing – per outing, with 11 turnovers on the season.
Dual threat quarterback Ike Hall has engineered the offense by completing 94 of 170 passes for 1,482 yards with 13 touchdowns and four interceptions, while rushing for 748 yards – second-most on the team – and 10 more scores.
Konlyn Anderson continues to be a workhorse in the backfield with 1,250 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns as he averages 5.7 yards per carry and 125 yards per outing. Changes of pace in the backfield include Logan McKibben (248 yards, 4 TDs) and Jaylan Brown (84 yards).
Brownwood’s receiving corps is arguably as deep as any in Burnett’s tenure with threats including Thad Hinds (34-593, 5 TDs), Jordan Leach (23-342, 1 TD), Jason Jackson (18-412, 9 TDs), Brayden Daub (9-149), and Taylor Bessent (9-115, TD).
As for the continued development of the offense, Burnett said, “It all starts with the offensive line and we go as they go, they are the heartbeat of the team. It takes so much longer for the offensive line to gel and get all cylinders running and I’ve seen growth in them. They’re all seniors who want to be successful and work hard, and their mental focus is big. There’s a lot of things go on up front that people don’t understand from identifying which linebacker we’re calling mike to them stemming to stunt pickups to defensive shifts and adjustments. The linemen have to sift that out on every play, whether it’s a run play or a pass play. I think we’re peaking with that group right at the right time.”
Leading the way defensively for Irvin are Angel Rodriguez (50 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack), Chairez (48 tackles, 2 for loss, 3 fumble recoveries, 2 interceptions), Israel Martinez (47 tackles), Guerrero (39 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 sack), Nikolas Rivera (36 tackles, 3 for loss), Erick Moreno (34 tackles, 3 for loss, 1 sack), Andres Orozco (33 tackles, 1 for loss, 3 fumble recoveries).
“We have four films but only two of them allow us to see what kind of set they will be in defensively based on a spread formation,” Burnett said. “We think we have a good idea of what they’re going to do. Without a doubt, once we get in a couple of formations we’ll have them pegged. It usually doesn’t take long for us to figure out what someone is trying to do to us and we’ll attack it. We’re going to do what we do, run the football to set up the pass, and we have a couple of formations we think that haven’t seen that will put them in a bind and I don’t think they’ll line up to them properly and we should be able to take advantage of that. We just need to go out there and execute our game plan, have faith in us and who we are and what we’re about.”
On the health front, Colton McMillian is expected back which will bring the Lions to full strength with the exception of Dryden Anderson, who was lost for the season to a knee injury in Week 1.
Thursday’s winner will face either Canyon (9-1) or Burkburnett (7-3) in the area round of the playoffs.
According to Harris Ratings Weekly, there is no line for the game. Brownwood was ranked 70 points higher than Irvin in the most recent poll.
“If we just get better every day, not be satisfied with where we are right now, just get better every day and what we do it really doesn’t matter who we play,” Burnett said. “If we focus on us, make sure we show up, it doesn’t matter who the opponent is, we feel like we are talented enough and gifted enough that we can play with anybody. We dropped two games this year and if you look back at those two games it was really us that caused the mistakes that cost us the ballgames. We just need to continue to fix us, sharpen us our skills and be masters of our craft, use the gifts that good Lord has given us to the fullest and we feel like that’s enough. After a week off our kids are rested, recovered, their batteries are charged and they’re focused on the take at hand and how we perform.”
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Brownwood Lions 2022 Football Season Stats
Through 10 Games (8-2, 4-0)
TEAM OFFENSE
40.2 points per game (402)
409.8 yards per game (4,098)
240.3 rushing yards per game (2,403)
169.5 passing yards per game (1,695)
55.9 completion percentage (104 of 186)
PASSING
* Ike Hall
94 of 170 for 1,482 yards, 13 TDs, 4 INTs
* Chance Jones
10 of 16 for 213 yards, 3 TDs, 2 INTs
RUSHING
* Konlyn Anderson
1,250 yards on 219 carries, 20 TDs
* Ike Hall
748 yards on 104 carries, 10 TDs
* Logan McKibben
248 yards on 48 carries, 4 TDs
* Jaylan Brown
84 yards on 12 carries
* Jason Jackson
26 yards on 1 carry
* Case Markham
21 yards on 4 carries
* Chance Jones
17 yards on 3 carries
* Jordan Leach
10 yards on 1 carry
RECEIVING
* Thad Hinds
34 catches, 593 yards, 5 TDs
* Jordan Leach
23 catches, 342 yards, 1 TD
* Jason Jackson
18 catches, 412 yards, 9 TDs
* Brayden Daub
9 catches, 149 yards
* Taylor Bessent
9 catches, 115 yards, TD
* Konlyn Anderson
8 catches, 56 yards
* Morsello Hooker
2 catches, 8 yards
* Hayden Noe
1 catch, 10 yards
###
TEAM DEFENSE
17.2 points per game (172)
289.4 yards per game (2,894)
160.5 rushing yards per game (1,605)
128.9 passing yards per game (1,289)
56.9 opponents completion percentage (119 of 209)
TACKLES
* Sam Kallman
90 tackles, 3 sacks, 3 for loss, 1 interception, 1 fumble recovery
* Chance Jones
90 tackles, 5 sacks, 1 for loss, 1 punt block
* Quinten McCarty
89 tackles, 12 for loss, 2 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 punt block
* Jake Jetton
77 tackles, 3 for loss, 2 fumble recoveries
* Stevie Ramirez
59 tackles, 3 sacks, 2 for loss, 1 fumble recovery
* Hayden Noe
47 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 PBU
* Cole Miller
40 tackles, 1 for loss, 2 sacks, 1 fumble recovery
* Case Markham
37 tackles, 1 interception, 1 PBU
* Noah Barron
35 tackles
* Jaylan Brown
31 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 for loss
* Jordyn Nickerson
31 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 interception
* Davis Le
31 tackles
* Hayden Deen
26 tackles, 1 for loss
* Morsello Hooker
25 tackles, 1 for loss, 6 interceptions, 10 PBUs
* Trent Loftin
25 tackles, 1 sack, 1 for loss
* Azariah Dillard
20 tackles
* Brayden Daub
19 tackles, 1 fumble recovery
* Logan Knight
16 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 sack
* Tristan Salinas
13 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 sack
* Logan McKibben
10 tackles
* Jordan Leach
8 tackles, 1 fumble recovery, 1 PBU
* Bryan Osbourn
7 tackles
* Colton McMillian
7 tackles
* Xavier Zepada
5 tackles
* Isaiah Rodriguez
3 tackles
* Robert Trowbridge
2 tackles, 1 fumble recovery
* Antwuan Valencia
2 tackles
* Junior Martinez
1 tackle
* Dryden Anderson
1 tackle
###
KICKING
* Junior Martinez
9 of 12 FGs – long of 45; 1 blocked
51 of 52 PATs
78 points
21 punts, 858 yards, 40.9 average – long of 58
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TURNOVER MARGIN (+8)
* Brownwood: 11 (5 fumbles, 6 interceptions)
* Opponents: 19 (10 fumbles, 9 interceptions)
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PENALTIES
* Brownwood: 70 for 694 yards (7.0 for 69.4 per game)
* Opponents: 66 for 573 yards (6.6 for 57.3 per game)