A game that featured a total of eight turnovers – four by each team – also saw a combined 42 points scored in the final 6:20 as a 20-point Brownwood (1-2) cushion was reduced to six by Glen Rose (0-3) on multiple occasions, yet the Lions held on down the stretch.
“You always appreciate a victory but I’m frustrated because I want to see us move forward from week to week to week, and in that second half it sure didn’t feel like we were moving forward offensively,” Brixey said. “We kept putting our defense in a bad situation against a good football team, and if you give a good football team enough tries, sooner or later they’ll turn it into a game. We turned what should not have been a close football game into a very close football game that we had to have some outstanding breaks in order to win the game. I’m glad we won the game and we’re going to build on that, but we have to play a lot better than we did tonight.”
The Lions forced four turnovers and scored on two of them – a 25-yard interception return for a touchdown by Sirr Beam that started the scoring just 47 seconds into the contest, and a 63-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Brinson Martin following an Isaac Gonzales sack of Glen Rose quarterback Judd Connally, which turned out to be the decisive score in the contest.
Along with takeaways from Martin and Beam, Wyatt Wolf and Nick Rodriguez also intercepted passes, and Brownwood tallied five sacks as well – two each by Gonzales and Martin and one from Durham Brown.
Martin’s touchdown came with 2:40 left in the contest immediately after a Glen Rose interception gave the Tigers the ball at the Brownwood 24, trailing 27-21. But Gonzales broke through the line on the very next snap and jarred the ball free from Connally, which Martin scooped up and carried to the end zone for a 34-21 advantage.
“I want to first give credit to Isaac Gonzales because he got there first and punched that out and all I did was scoop it up and run with it,” Martin said. “After the first two games we knew we had to get pressure on the quarterback. We worked all week on trying to get to him and making sure we were in his face and we showed up really well tonight.”
The touchdown proved crucial as Glen Rose scored again with 35 seconds remaining for the final six-point margin, as Beam recovered an onside kick and Brownwood was able to run out the clock.
“I knew I had it in me,” Beam said of recovering the onside kick. “I saw the ball coming at me and I was ready for it.”
Behind a front five of Aidan Packheiser, Jackson Rainey, Gustavo Gonzalez, Avuid Gomez, and Rylan Martin, Brownwood finished with a season-high 329 yards of total offense – 174 yards through the air and 155 on the ground. Quarterback Judson Coalson connected on 10 of 20 passes for 174 yards with two scoring tosses and a pair of interceptions, and rushed for 34 yards. Trent Buffington led the ground game with 73 yards and a touchdown, and Connor Cornelius hauled in a pair of scoring receptions totaling 27 yards.
Other offensive standouts for the Lions included Raven Prado with three catches for 43 yards, Carson Noe grabbed two receptions for 64 yards, and Levi Pearson tacked on 41 yards on the ground.
Along with the four turnovers, the Lions also managed to overcome a season-high 10 penalities for 90 yards.
Glen Rose produced 283 yards, with 217 coming after halftime, as the Tigers threw for 186 yards and rushed for 97. Connally connected on 12 of 30 passes for 186 yards with a pair of scoring strikes and three interceptions, as Ryder Ribitzki hauled in five receptions for 78 yards and both touchdown tosses, and Tyson Sullivan rushed for 72 yards and a touchdown and also returned a kickoff 95 yards for six points.
The Lions picked off three passes in the first half alone, with Beam’s interception just 47 seconds into the contest resulting in Brownwood’s first lead of 2025.
“We’ve been practicing that a lot, the stops, the outs, everything,” Beam said. “I just read the quarterback and went and picked it. It was awesome.”
Brownwood maintained its 7-0 lead until the first play of the second quarter as a 63-yard, six-play drive ended with a 19-yard scoring toss from Coalson to Cornelius for a 14-0 Lions’ edge.
The Lions’ next possession covered 61 yards in seven plays as a 51-yard toss from Coalson to Noe set up Buffington’s 1-yard plunge with 6:44 left before intermission for a 20-0 advantage.
Interceptions by Rodriguez and Wolf also halted drives for Glen Rose, which finished the first half with just 66 yards of total offense to go along with three turnovers.
“We played outstanding defensively in the first half, I don’t know how you can ask for a better performance than what those kids gave, and we had a few highlights offensively,” Brixey said. “We played well enough in the first half defensively to give us the opportunity to have that lead, and we came out in the second half and it was a comedy of errors with the kicking game, what we were doing offensively, and with penalties.”
After a quiet third quarter by both teams, Glen Rose prevented the shutout with 6:20 left on a 10-yard run by Tyson Sullivan, who finished with 72 yards rushing for the Tigers.
The Lions fumbled the ball away two snaps later, and at the 5:44 mark of the fourth quarter Glen Rose was back in the end zone again on a 24-yard scoring strike from Connally to Ribitzki to close the gap to 20-14.
With the Lions suddenly on the ropes and facing a second-and-15 from their own 21, Buffington ripped off a 63-yard sprint, and a horse collar penalty added to the end of the run moved the ball to the Glen Rose 8.
“That probably saved the game as much as anything,” Brixey said of the Lions’ longest play from scrimmage of the season. “It was just a lead draw, they were rushing and he just popped it. He’s got great speed and made one guy miss and was able to outrun almost everybody. It kept us ahead enough to hold them off at the end.”
Two plays later, Coalson and Cornelius connected again in the end zone to stretch Brownwood’s lead to 27-14, with 3:59 to go.
“On that corner route, I knew I had to get him to go inside and then break outside and it was a great throw by Judson,” Cornelius said. “We practice this every day and I know I have to execute on those. Doing it over and over in practice has helped me mentally and physically.”
Along with Buffington’s game-changing sprint, Coalson added a first-half 38-yard scramble and Pearson picked up 11 yards on a second-half carry. Brownwood’s other 34 rushes during the game netted a total of 43 yards.
“In the passing game we did some good things, but until we start running the football we’re not going to be able to do things we need to do,” Brixey said.
After Brownwood grabbed a 27-14 advantage, Glen Rose’s Sullivan returned the ensuing kick 95 yards for a touchdown, and suddenly the Lions were in danger again, 27-21, with 3:43 left.
But the Lions’ fourth takeaway proved to be the difference 63 seconds later.
“I’ve said all along that we’re going to stress defense and tonight you see why we’re going to stress defense,” Brixey said. “The pick six by Sirr Beam and the strip sack and fumble return by Brinson Martin, those are the difference in the ball game honestly.”
Next week, the Lions are on the road for the second week in a row as they visit Class 4A Division II No. 3 Waco La Vega (3-1), which reached the state championship game a year ago and picked up a 44-20 victory over West Orange-Stark Friday night.
***
Brownwood 34, Glen Rose 28
SCORE BY QUARTERS
| Brownwood | 7 | 13 | 0 | 14 | – 34 |
| Glen Rose | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | – 28 |
***
SCORING SUMMARY
B: Sirr Beam 25 interception return (Eli Valenciano kick), 11:13, 1st
B: Connor Cornelius 19 pass from Judson Coalson (Valenciano kick), 11:52, 2nd
B: Trent Buffington 1 run (kick failed), 6:44, 2nd
G: Tyson Sullivan 10 run (Alexis Muro kick), 6:20, 4th
G: Ryder Ribitzki 24 pass from Judd Connally (Muro kick), 5:44, 4th
B: Cornelius 8 pass from Coalson (Valenciano kick), 3:59, 4th
G: Sullivan 95 kick return (Muro kick), 3:43, 4th
G: Brinson Martin 63 fumble return (Valenciano kick), 2:40, 4th
G: Ribitzki 22 pass from Connally (Muro kick), 0:35, 4th
***
| TEAM STATS | B | G |
| First Downs | 14 | 16 |
| Total Offense | 329 | 283 |
| Rushes-Yards | 37-155 | 29-97 |
| Passing Yards | 174 | 186 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 10-20-2 | 12-31-3 |
| Fumbles Lost | 2 | 1 |
| Penalties-Yards | 10-90 | 5-43 |
| Punts-Average | 3-34.6 | 4-39.0 |
***
PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: B – Trent Buffington 9-73, TD; Levi Pearson 20-41; Judson Coalson 6-34; Robbie Robinson 1-10; Team 1-(-3). G – Tyson Sullivan 13-72, TD; Judd Connally 15-33; Luke Males 1-(-8).
PASSING: B – Coalson 10-20-2-174, 2 TDs; G – Connally 12-30-3-97, 2 TDs; Males 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING: B – Raven Prado 3-43; Carson Noe 2-64; Connor Cornelius 2-27, 2 TDs; Wyatt Wolf 1-22; Pearson 1-11; Robinson 1-7. G – Ryder Ribitzki 5-78, 2 TDs; Caden Marrs 4-56; Males 2-32; Patton Prescott 1-20.
KICKING: B – Eli Valenciano 4 of 5 PATs. 0 of 0 FGs.
3 punts, 104 yards, 34.6 average – 1 inside 20
