The Brownwood Lions’ second and final trial run prior to the start of the 2025 high school football campaign comes Thursday night at Gordon Wood Stadium as the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football preseason Class 4A Division I No. 10 Alvarado Indians come calling.

The JV and Freshman teams will scrimmage on opposite ends of the field beginning at 6 p.m., while the varsity teams are slated to see action a little after 7 p.m.

The varsity format will feature 10 plays for the starting offense and defense, eight plays for the reserve offense and defense, eight more plays for the starting offense and defense, and six additional plays for the reserve offense and defense.

Special teams work on kicking and punting will follow, then the scrimmage will conclude with two live quarters with a running clock, and penalties will be enforced.

“The main thing I’d like to see is us moving forward from last week, let’s be better than we were a week ago,” Lions first-year head coach Jeryl Brixey said in regard to the objectives Thursday night. “That’s always going to be the goal, improving and playing a little bit harder, playing a little bit smarter. We tackled better last week than we did in the intrasquad scrimmage and we need to tackle better this week than we did last week. Improvement from week to week is really what we’re looking for. We’re looking forward to the live portion so we can get into the ebb and flow like a live game. For us in that live portion last week, our defense got a three-and-out and we pinned ourselves down on the 15 with a penalty on the punt return, but had an 85-yard drive for a touchdown.”

Alvarado, led by head coach Casey Walraven, is coming off a 13-1 season and trip to the regional finals, and return five offensive and eight defensive starters from that squad.

Players to watch for the Indians, who are picked to repeat as District 6-4A Division I champions by DCTF, include running back DeMarcus Belton, linebacker Logan Woolard, receiver/safety Lane Woolard, and running back/linebacker DJ Clampitt. The Indians entered preseason practice looking to fill voids at the quarterback role, and with some of the receiver positions.

“They are an even front, we didn’t see an even front last week, we haven’t really worked against an even front, so we’re going to have to get a little bit of work in against that,” Brixey said. “You don’t prepare to win a scrimmage, but you also don’t want your kids to go out and be lost. Last week we had a rule on both sides no more than four-man pressures, but we’re going to treat this like a game, there’s not going to be any limitations on what we can do defensively and what they can do defensively. That will be interesting to see how our kids handle it when people start mixing things up.”

The Lions squared off against 5A Division II Wichita Falls Legacy in scrimmage action last week, scoring a touchdown and forcing a three-and-out in a live session; kicking a 39-yard field goal and picking off a passing in red zone work; booting all five field goal attempts in special teams action; and yielding two touchdowns while coming up short of the end zone during the controlled portion of action.

In reviewing the film from the Legacy scrimmage, Brixey said, “Surprisingly my opinions didn’t change a whole lot from after the scrimmage. Our kids did fly around, they did play hard, we were physical at times. Yes we were physical, but we need to be more physical. Yes we did play hard, but we need to play harder. It’s not ever going to be good enough, and that’s the truth.

Brixey added, “Defensively I feel like we had a good showing. Our front seven played hard and got after, not that our secondary didn’t, I just think we had some misalignments and missed keys that ended up giving up some big passes that we can’t afford to give up in games. We have to see and react in a way that we’re supposed to. Offensively, we looked like we had an idea of what we’re doing, we didn’t look lost, but we have to get to where we know what we’re doing. Judson Coalson had a good scrimmage. He missed a couple of easy passes early but in your first time in a new offense under the lights he did some good things. He got the football to some guys he needed to. Trent Buffington was playing running back for us and ran really hard. Our receivers caught the ball well for the most part. We did have a couple of drops but those are concentration things that we will get fixed. Technique-wise we’re way off the mark really everywhere on the field as far as footwork and eyes.”

On the Brownwood Lions Coaches Show on KOXE earlier this week, Brixey singled out a few players for their performances in the Legacy scrimmage, including senior Omari McNeil, freshman Ryland Martin and sophomore Jackson Rainey on the offensive line, senior fullback Daylan Ansons, senior tight end Grant Gray and sophomore Aiden Jimenez in the secondary.

Also in regard to the scrimmage last week, Brixey added, “We addressed the negatives, we don’t dwell on them, but there are some things we need to get fixed. If you have a football team with a good secondary and a good offensive line, you’re going to have a good football team, and that’s what we’ve got to get developed. Before the year’s over I feel like we’re going to have good groups there. The receivers blocking from the intrasquad scrimmage to this one, we took a step in the right direction but we still have to become much more aggressive. Route running at times was good, at other times we were cruising into routes so that has to be better. We have to come to the idea that it’s always full speed.”