The Brownwood Lions 7-on-7 squad improved as the day went on as it finished with a 1-2 record in its own Division II state qualifying tournament at Gordon Wood Stadium Saturday morning.
The Lions opened with a 38-18 loss to Ponder, which has already qualified for state; rallied from an early deficit to take the lead over Gatesville before falling, 20-14; and knocked off Waxahachie Life, 26-13, in their tournament finale.
“It’s the best competition we’ve played in 7-on-7 this year,” said Lions first-year head coach Jeryl Brixey, as Brownwood has competed in games at Comanche during the week throughout the month of May. “All in all, I saw a lot of good things. It was a good morning and time well spent.”
Brownwood’s offense reached the end zone on nine of 17 possessions as quarterback Judson Coalson completed 45 of 62 passes with nine touchdowns and three interceptions. Carson Noe grabbed a team-best 14 receptions with four touchdowns trailed by Levi Pearson with a dozen catches and two trips to the end zone, Sirr Beam with 10 grabs and three scores, Conner Cornelius with five catches, and Durham Brown with four receptions.
“We threw and caught the ball well,” Brixey said. “We had a couple of drops and we have to get the ball out a little bit faster, which is something we need to work on, but the kids played hard and competed hard.”
The Lions defense allowed touchdowns on 11 of 19 opponent drives, but recorded three interceptions – two by Caven Webster and one by Raven Prado.
“We made some great plays on balls, knocking them out of receivers’ hands, and closed ground on guys when they were open,” Brixey said.
In the victory over Waxahachie Life, the Lions crossed the goal line on their first two drives to open a 13-0 advantage as Coalson connected with Noe and Beam on scoring tosses. Leading 13-7 at intermission, Brownwood tacked on two more second-half touchdowns as Beam and Pearson found the end zone.
Defensively, Webster notched his second interception of the day.
“This game could have devolved into a fight at one time and I was pretty proud that we just walked away,” Brixey said. “That’s a huge positive in how we conduct ourselves and carry ourselves.”
Against Gatesville, the Lions trailed 12-0 early but made four consecutive defensive stops – including two on interceptions by Prado and Webster. This allowed Brownwood to surge in front, 14-12, on touchdown passes from Coalson to Noe and Beam.
But with less than a minute left, Gatesville returned to the end zone and tacked on a two-point conversion for the final six-point margin, which earned the Hornets a berth in the semifinal round.
“The lesson from this game is you can’t get start slow and get down big, you have to come out guns blazing,” Brixey said. “We showed we could shut them down for a while, so there’s no reason we shouldn’t have been able to do that from the beginning. But we fought back and gave ourselves a chance to win that one.”
The Lions got off to a shaky start against Ponder as, after taking a 6-0 lead on a scoring toss from Coalson to Noe, Brownwood surrendered the next four touchdowns and trailed 25-6 before scoring on its last two drives as Noe and Pearson wound up in the end zone.
“The first game against Ponder was a rough one,” Brixey said. “They’re a pretty talented 7-on-7 team. It took a little bit for us to wake up.”
The Lions will play in their second and final 7-on-7 Division II state qualifier next Saturday at Jim Ned.
Graham advanced to the state from the Brownwood side of the bracket and Stephenville is moving on from the Early side.
