Bright spots on defense were accompanied by frustrations on offense as the Brownwood Lions dropped a 25-0 decision to Class 5A Division II Abilene Wylie in their first football game under head coach Jeryl Brixey.

In the 7:30 p.m. Friday home opener at Gordon Wood Stadium, the Lions (0-1) will attempt to make the necessary corrections to hand the Harris Ratings Weekly Class 3A Division II No. 1-ranked Wall Hawks (1-0) their first loss of 2025.

Behind what is touted as the best offensive line in Class 3A by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, Wall’s 48-7 win over Mason in the season opener featured 409 yards of total offense – 224 passing and 185 rushing – and six different Hawks wound up in the end zone.

Quarterback Landon York – who passed for 3,767 yards and 48 touchdowns a year ago – completed 11 of 16 passes for 168 yards with three touchdowns in the opener, and added 38 yards rushing on the ground on three carries. Wall’s second-string quarterback Gunner King was 5 of 7 for 56 yards with 25 yards rushing on four carries.

Leading receivers for the Hawks were Evan Boehle (4-51), Reid Robertson (3-72, TD), Hagyn Barbee (3-34, TD; plus a 24-yard TD carry), Kellan Oliver (3-30), Gavin Sisson (1-21) and Bryson McFarden (1-10, TD).

The ground game for Wall was anchored by Brady Neal (58 yards, TD), Jager Thompson (30 yards, TD) and Tayson Stucker (9 yards, TD).

“They’re a very talented football team and they’re going to present some challenges for us,” Brixey said. “Our defensive staff feels like they have the most athletic receivers we’ll see for a long time this year. They’ll provide a different look for our defense this week in terms of what we’ll have to stop. They’re definitely going to throw the ball a lot more than Wylie did last week. It’ll be interesting to see how much pressure we can put on the quarterback and how well our kids cover. I’m excited to see how we handle that defensively.”

Defensively, the Hawks yielded just one touchdown and 201 yards of total offense – 160 rushing and 41 passing – produced one turnover, and netted one sack against Mason.

Standouts included Kaden McFarden (8 tackles 1 for loss, 1 sack), Bennett Branch (7 tackles), Bryson McFarden (6 tackles), Thompson (5 tackles), Stucker (5 tackles), Dylan Sellers (5 tackles) and Sisson (4 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 fumble recovery).

“They’re going to run basically a 4-2-5 with some 4-3 on defense,” Brixey said. “It’ll be an even front which is different from what we saw last week, but we did see it in our scrimmage against Alvarado. That helps in that regard, but we have to learn to block against a different front. Their two interior linemen are big kids, their outside guys a little bit rangier, and their secondary is athletic. They’re longer kids, they’re not huge kids,. They’ve got a linebacker in the middle, Jacob Braden, we feel like he’s their bell cow of the defense and makes a lot of plays for them. I look forward to seeing what our growth looks like offensively.”

Reflecting on Brownwood’s opener, Brixey said, “Against a really good 5A football team I think there’s enough lights at the end of the tunnel to feel like if we keep improving we’re going to end up as a good football team. Maybe just a little bit more frustration because at times we were right on the end of doing something good offensively. Defensively I still fee like we played a good football game but when you watch the film there’s a lot of mistakes where we could have had a better nigh if we fix those things. At the end of the day we played well enough defensively to win the ball game if we would have had any production at all offensively. We had some at times, but I was like one step forward and two steps back. Our kids played really hard, but they can play harder and we’re stressing that, and we’re moving in a good direction, and I think a measure of how your season is going to go is how much you improve for your first ball game to your second, and we’re challenging the kids to be much better this week across the board than we were at Wylie.”

Defensively, the Lions surrendered 244 yards of total offense – 195 rushing on 41 carries, an average of 4.8 per rush, and 49 yards passing on 5 of 7 attempts – as Wylie scored on a pair of 57-yard touchdown drives, was held to a 21-yard field goal late in the first half, and added a 1-yard touchdown plunge after Brownwood fumbled near its own goal line late in the game.

Among those chalking up tackles for the Lions in the opener were Christian Gray

(10.5 tackles), Caven Webster (10 tackles), Brinson Martin (7 tackles), Durham Brown (5 tackles), Isaac Gonzales (3.5 tackles), Sirr Beam (3.5 tackles), Nick Rodriguez (3 tackles), Finn Hull (3 tackles), Raul Eberhardt (2.5 tackles), Raven Prado (2 tackles), Aiden Jimenez (2 tackles), and Wyatt Wolf (1.5 tackles).

The struggles for Brownwood, as were anticipated, came on the offensive side of the ball as the Lions were limited to just 92 total yards – 47 rushing and 45 passing – with a pair of turnovers.

Levi Pearson rushed for 66 yards on 19 carries while Trent Buffington chipped in 16 yards on two rushes and Robbie Robinson tacked on 8 on four carries. But quarterback Judson Coalson was sacked four times which led in part to -18 yards for him, and a pair of bad snaps resulted in 25 more yards of losses.

Through the air, Coalson connected on 5 of 7 tosses with one interception, as Carson Noe grabbed four for 36 yards and Connor Cornelius hauled in a 9-yard reception.

Regarding what he would like to see from the Lions he didn’t in Week 1, Brixey said. “We have to execute on our snaps and be clear on our snap count. There were issues with us changing the snap count at the line and not getting that communicated very well. If we can eliminate the penalties and turnovers, which are the things that drive me the craziest, and continue to improve up front, get bodies on bodies and not turn people loose, that’s what I would like to see every play.”

Offensive lineman Omari McNeal, who missed last week’s opener, is expected to be available against Wall. All other Lion players who suited up against Wylie were also anticipated to be available in the home opener.

According to Harris Ratings Weekly, Brownwood is a 10-point underdog, while Dave Campbell’s Texas Football lists the Lions as 6-point underdogs.

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Brownwood Lions 2025 Football Season Stats

Through 1 Game (0-1)

TEAM OFFENSE

0 points per game (0)

92.0 yards per game (92)

47.0 rushing yards per game (47)

45.0 passing yards per game (45)

PASSING

* Judson Coalson

5 of 7 for 45 yards, 1 INT

RUSHING

* Levi Pearson

66 yards on 19 carries

* Trent Buffington

16 yards on 2 carries

* Robbie Robinson

8 yards on 4 carries

* Judson Coalson

-18 yards on 7 carries

* TEAM

-25 yards on 2 carries

RECEIVING

* Carson Noe

4 catches, 36 yards, 3 TDs

* Connor Cornelius

1 catch, 9 yards

###

TEAM DEFENSE

25.0 points per game (25)

244.0 yards per game (244)

195 rushing yards per game (195)

49 passing yards per game (49)

TACKLES

* Christian Gray

10.5 tackles, 1 sack

* Caven Webster

10 tackles

* Brinson Martin

7 tackles

* Durham Brown

5 tackles

* Isaac Gonzales

3.5 tackles

* Sirr Beam

3.5 tackles

* Nick Rodriguez

3 tackles

* Finn Hull

3 tackles

* Raul Eberhardt

2.5 tackles

* Raven Prado

2 tackles

* Aiden Jimenez

2 tackles

* Wyatt Wolf

1.5 tackles

* Maddox Mendoza

0.5 tackles

* Robbie Robinson

0.5 tackles

* Eli Valenciano

0.5 tackles

###

KICKING

Eli Valenciano

0 of 1 FGs – bad snap

0 of 0 PATs

0 points

5 punts, 151 yards, 30.2 average – long of 46; 0 inside opponents’ 20

###

TURNOVER MARGIN (-2)

* Brownwood: 2 (1 interception, 1 fumble)

* Opponents: 0

###

PENALTIES

* Brownwood: 4 for 36 yards (4 for 36 per game)

* Opponents: 12 for 93 yards (12 for 93 per game)