The No. 7 Brownwood Lions, according to this week’s Padilla Poll, reeled off their fifth consecutive lopsided victory in the Class 4A Division I Region I bi-district round of the playoffs – 63-0 over El Paso Irvin – but perhaps their greatest challenge since before District 2 action began awaits in the No. 16 Canyon Eagles.
The Class 4A Division I Region I area round playoff between the Lions (9-2) and Eagles (10-1) will kick off at 7 p.m. Friday at Midland’s Astound Broadband Stadium.
“Our kids are really taking this seriously, they’re excited about the opportunity they have,” said Lions fifth-year head coach Sammy Burnett. “They’ve been working for hours upon hours for the opportunities that are presented to them right now. They’re continuing to invest the time to grasp the knowledge they need to play fast and physical. I couldn’t be more excited about their preparation and I look forward to Friday night.”
The average score during the Lions’ current win streak is 53-9, with most games having been well in hand by halftime – a trend Burnett doesn’t expect to continue as Brownwood advances deeper into the postseason.
“We hope that all games are easy for us but at some point we’re going to face some adversity, but we faced adversity early,” Burnett said. “We had a pre-district schedule that made us work hard and made us fight for wins, none of them were easy. Even going into district we didn’t feel like we were in a position to let our hair down and party. We’ve been in about every situation you can be in during a ball game and we’ve handled all of them. I don’t think they’ll be any panic or fear when we get in a game that’s close and it will happen at some point. There’s no quit in our kids and they’re going to be prepared. But it’s going to happen, we’re going to be in some close ball games, probably from here on out.”
Canyon is coming off a 42-14 bi-district victory over Burkburnett and the only blemish on its record is a 31-14 loss to Canyon Randall which determined the District 3 champion. Canyon later edged Dumas, 22-21, in the second-place battle in the district. The Eagles and Lions share a common foe in Brownwood’s District 2 rival Andrews. Brownwood picked up a 47-3 road win in the regular-season finale while Canyon recorded a 44-30 home victory on Sept. 30.
“I would compare Canyon to a Burnet or an Andrews,” Burnett said. “The difference in the Andrews game was a quarterback run play and Canyon’s linebacker stripped it from him and ran it in for a touchdown. Then on the next kickoff Andrews fumbled it on the 10 yard line and Canyon scored again and they won by 14 points.”
For the season, Canyon averages 32 points and 349 yards – 200 rushing and 149 passing – per game, while giving up 18 points with 12 takeaways and 12 sacks on the season.
In last week’s 28-point win over Burkburnett, the Eagles rushed for 352 of their 482 total yards. Colt Cruth led the way with 122 yards on 16 carries, Chris Labue chipped in 98 yards and two touchdowns on six carries, Samuel Johnson added 80 yards and a touchdown on 13 rushes, and Javin Cash chimed in with 50 yards and crossed the goal line once on his 10 totes.
Three different players saw time at quarterback as Boston Bell was 3 of 5 for 71 yards, Christian McGuire went 2 of 2 for 33 yards and a touchdown, and Noah Sanchez finished 3 of 3 for 26 yards. For the season, Derrek Clements (79 of 130 for 1,120 yards, 13 TDs, 4 INTs in 5 games) saw the most action before suffering an injury.
The leading receiving for Burkburnett last week and for the season is Hunter Wilson with five grabs for 64 yards and a touchdown in the playoff game(29-511, 5 TDs for the year). Tripp Wright added a 46-yard reception, while second-leading receiver on the season Carson Cockrell (19-255, 2 TDs) did not catch a pass.
“They’re good up front,” Burnett said. “They’re not real big up front but they’re fast and physical. They’ll play four or five quarterbacks – No. 6 (Bell) is the kid that’s going to go out and operate and run the entire offense; No. 39 (Sanchez) is a freshman that’s more for a thrower down the field; No. 7 (Johnson) is a running back and every once in a while they’ll snap it to him and let him run the ball; and No. 11 (Javin Cash) and No. 20 (Dominic Rodriguez) are outside linebackers they put in when they run the wildcat. They’re going to get in some sets where they’re going to try and overpower us and our defense is ready to rise up to the challenge. They take it personal when other teams think they can line up and run over them. Canyon is tendency-oriented and we think we can feed off that.”
The Lions counter with a defense that has allowed just 3 points and 281 yards total over the last two games, and for the season Brownwood yields 16 points and 268 yards – 149 rushing and 119 passing – per game, with 20 takeaways, 13 of which have occurred over the last five games.
Standouts for the Lions include Sam Kallman (101 tackles, 3 sacks, 3 for loss, 1 interception, 1 fumble recovery), Quinten McCarty (100 tackles, 14 for loss, 2 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 punt block), Chance Jones (99 tackles, 5 sacks, 1 for loss, 1 punt block), Jake Jetton (84 tackles, 3 for loss, 2 fumble recoveries), Stevie Ramirez (64 tackles, 3 sacks, 3 for loss, 1 fumble recovery), Hayden Noe (53 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 PBU), Cole Miller (46 tackles, 1 for loss, 2 sacks, 1 fumble recovery), Noah Barron (43 tackles), Case Markham (40 tackles, 1 for loss, 2 interceptions, 1 PBU), Jaylan Brown (37 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 for loss), Jordyn Nickerson (37 tackles, 3 for loss, 1 interception), Davis Le (37 tackles), Hayden Deen (28 tackles, 1 for loss), Brayden Daub (27 tackles, 1 fumble recovery), Azariah Dillard (27 tackles), and Morsello Hooker (26 tackles, 1 for loss, 6 interceptions, 10 PBUs).
Canyon’s defense allows just 17 points on average per game with one shutout. Three teams have scored at least 30 points against the Eagles, with Amarillo Caprock tallying a season-high 32 in Canyon’s three-point victory on Sept. 15.
Cash leads the ways with 124 tackles, including 21 for loss, on the year and tallied 18 against Burkburnett. Other standouts include Rece Davis with 74 tackles, three for loss, and 12 takedowns last week; Labue with 87 tackles, 13 for loss, and 11 last week; and Casen Bice with 84 tackles, 13 for loss, and nine last week. The Eagles recorded three sacks as a team against Burkburnett and one interception by Darion Cash. For the season, Braydon Wagner leads the way with four picks.
“Canyon is a 3-4 defense with a four shell in the back and they’re going to play two read,” Burnett said. “They’re going to expect their outside backers to play run and pass, but our goal is to make that linebacker wrong regardless. He can’t play the run and the pass, they’re going to have to dictate what they want to stop, but we won’t let them do both. They’re very good defensively, but I think at some point scheme and technique will take over and that’ll be on our side.”
Brownwood’s offense rolls into the contest after scoring a season-high 63 points in just three quarters last week, the highest point output for the Lions since a 70-3 home victory over Snyder on Sept. 6, 2019. Behind the play of linemen Chris Robinson, Slayde Espinoza, Isaac Gray, Damian Sanchez and Roan Aguinaga, the Lions generate 42 points and 409 yards – 241 rushing and 168 passing – per game, with 13 turnovers for the season.
Quarterback Ike Hall has completed 100 of 179 passes for 1,638 yards with 15 touchdowns and five interceptions while rushing for 783 yards and 10 scores. Konlyn Anderson (1,395 yards, 23 touchdowns) leads the charge in the backfield with Logan McKibben (282 yards, 6 TDs) providing a change of pace. Weapons in the passing attack include Thad Hinds (37-715, 7 TDs), Jordan Leach (25-375, TD), Jason Jackson (19-413, 9 TDs), Brayden Daub (9-149) and Taylor Bessent (9-115, TD).
“On the offensive side, we have to control the line of scrimmage,” Burnett said. “They’re good at what they do, they’re very disciplined at what they do. Their back end is really sound in coverage, they have strong eyes, they don’t get off the defenders and don’t get tricked. We’re going to use that in our favor because some teams are so disciplined in what they do it becomes a routine. We have some things we think can counter what they do and use their discipline against them and make them adjust from what they’re comfortable doing. If we’re running the football they may feel like they have to load the box to stop the run, so that’s putting kids on an island in the back end and our receiving corps has the ability to get over the top and get past the defense. That puts pressure on defenses. We feel like we can put people in a bind because if you stack the box to stop the run we can throw the football, and if you loosen up the box and want to play the pass we’re going to run the ball on you.”
Friday’s winner will face either Wichita Falls (7-4) or Big Spring (6-5) – who meet at 8 p.m. Friday in Clyde – in the Class 4A Division I Region I semifinals. If the Lions are victorious, they will play the Wichita Falls-Big Spring winner at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 25 at Abilene Christian University.
Brownwood is a 10-point favorite according to Harris Ratings Weekly and a 17-point favorite according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football.
“If the Brownwood Lions take care of the Brownwood Lions, it doesn’t matter who we play, we’re going to be fine,” Burnett said. “We dropped two games this year and both of those games were our fault, giving up points we shouldn’t be giving up from turnovers. We take ownership from that and used those two losses to learn our lesson and hopefully it won’t happen again. We feel like if we show up on Friday and take care of us that will be good enough and we’ll come back with another gold football. It doesn’t matter who we play it’s how we play. If we don’t create opportunities for someone to put points on the board – whether it’s big plays against the defense, turnovers by the offense, or penalties, if we can control those things we’ll be just fine.”
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Brownwood Lions 2022 Football Season Stats
Through 11 Games (9-2, 4-0)
TEAM OFFENSE
42.3 points per game (465)
409.2 yards per game (4,501)
240.9 rushing yards per game (2,650)
168.3 passing yards per game (1,851)
56.4 completion percentage (110 of 195)
PASSING
* Ike Hall
100 of 179 for 1,638 yards, 15 TDs, 5 INTs
* Chance Jones
10 of 16 for 213 yards, 3 TDs, 2 INTs
RUSHING
* Konlyn Anderson
1,395 yards on 229 carries, 23 TDs
* Ike Hall
783 yards on 106 carries, 10 TDs
* Logan McKibben
282 yards on 52 carries, 6 TDs
* Jaylan Brown
84 yards on 12 carries
* Case Markham
30 yards on 5 carries
* Jason Jackson
26 yards on 1 carry
* Noah Gonzales
24 yards on 6 carries
* Chance Jones
17 yards on 3 carries
* Jordan Leach
10 yards on 1 carry
RECEIVING
* Thad Hinds
37 catches, 715 yards, 7 TDs
* Jordan Leach
25 catches, 375yards, 1 TD
* Jason Jackson
19 catches, 413 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
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TEAM DEFENSE
15.6 points per game (172)
268.3 yards per game (2,952)
148.8 rushing yards per game (1,637)
119.5 passing yards per game (1,315)
56.9 opponents completion percentage (124 of 218)
TACKLES
* Sam Kallman
101 tackles, 3 sacks, 3 for loss, 1 interception, 1 fumble recovery
* Quinten McCarty
100 tackles, 14 for loss, 2 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 punt block
* Chance Jones
99 tackles, 5 sacks, 1 for loss, 1 punt block
* Jake Jetton
84 tackles, 3 for loss, 2 fumble recoveries
* Stevie Ramirez
64 tackles, 3 sacks, 3 for loss, 1 fumble recovery
* Hayden Noe
53 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 PBU
* Cole Miller
46 tackles, 1 for loss, 2 sacks, 1 fumble recovery
* Noah Barron
43 tackles
* Case Markham
40 tackles, 1 for loss, 2 interceptions, 1 PBU
* Jaylan Brown
37 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 for loss
* Jordyn Nickerson
37 tackles, 3 for loss, 1 interception
* Davis Le
37 tackles
* Hayden Deen
28 tackles, 1 for loss
* Brayden Daub
27 tackles, 1 fumble recovery
* Azariah Dillard
27 tackles
* Morsello Hooker
26 tackles, 1 for loss, 6 interceptions, 10 PBUs
* Trent Loftin
25 tackles, 1 sack, 1 for loss
* Tristan Salinas
19 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack
* Logan Knight
17 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 sack
* Logan McKibben
11 tackles
* Colton McMillian
10 tackles
* Jordan Leach
8 tackles, 1 fumble recovery, 1 PBU
* Bryan Osbourn
7 tackles
* Xavier Zepada
5 tackles
* Isaiah Rodriguez
5 tackles
* Robert Trowbridge
4 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery
* Antwuan Valencia
2 tackles
* Junior Martinez
1 tackle
* Dryden Anderson
1 tackle
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KICKING
* Junior Martinez
9 of 13 FGs – long of 45; 1 blocked
60 of 61 PATs
87 points
21 punts, 858 yards, 40.9 average – long of 58
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TURNOVER MARGIN (+7)
* Brownwood: 13 (6 fumbles, 7 interceptions)
* Opponents: 20 (10 fumbles, 10 interceptions)
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PENALTIES
* Brownwood: 74 for 739 yards (6.7 for 67.2 per game)
* Opponents: 67 for 578 yards (6.1 for 52.5 per game)