The Brownwood Lions’ second chance at qualifying for a 21st straight appearance at the 7-on-7 state tournament occurs Saturday at the Burnet qualifier.
Due to the recent heavy rains and more expected this week, Burnet ISD on Wednesday afternoon announced a change in the schedule.
Pools C and D will now play at Lampasas High School as Brownwood will face Lake Belton at 9 a.m., Lampasas at 10:20 a.m. and Midlothian Heritage at 11:40 p.m. The winners from Pool C and D will square off at 1 p.m. to determine who advances to the 7-on-7 Division II state tournament June 24-25 at Veterans Park and Athletic Complex in College Station.
Pool D is comprised of China Spring, Cameron Yoe, Salado, or Boerne.
The two other pools will consist of host Burnet, McGregor, Manor New Tech, and Little River-Academy in Pool A and Fredericksburg, Llano, Krum, and Gatesville in Pool B.
The Lions are coming off a 1-2 performance at Graham last week, defeating Krum, 22-14, on the final play followed by losses to Wichita Falls Hirschi, 26-20, and Dumas, 33-27 – games in which Brownwood led late in the second half.
Reflecting of last week’s performance, Lions head coach Sammy Burnett, who observed the action, said, “We tell our kids it’s never OK to lose, ever, find out what you did wrong and fix it. But when I look back on it, and I hate to say it this way because I don’t want this to get misinterpreted, but I’m glad we got beat. Why? Because if we were to win right now with some of the things I know we did incorrectly, our kids would think it would be OK to continue to do it that way. It’s not OK to do it that way, so from these losses figure out what you have to do to be successful, start working on it and become a master of your craft.”
Quarterback Chance Jones connected on 46 of 84 passes (55 percent) with 10 touchdowns and two interceptions.
Case Markham and Jason Jackson led the receiving corps with 14 catches apiece, as Markham hauled in four touchdowns and Jackson made three scoring receptions. Elias Huerta finished with seven grabs and a touchdown, Konlyn Anderson caught six passes out of the backfield and scored once, Thad Hinds tallied two catches with a touchdown, Brayden Daub hauled in a pair of receptions, and Jaylon Brown caught a pass as well.
“We took a bunch of shots and that gives me goosebumps because we have big play capability,” Burnett said. “Chance Jones threw the ball extremely well. There were times that he may not have led a kid or put the ball deep enough, but those are lessons learned for him.
“Then when you look across the board, Brayden Daub, Thad Hinds, Jason Jackson, Case Markham and Elias Huerta, we’re as good or better in the receiving corps than we were two years ago when we went to the regional semifinals. That is a big plus, we’re throwing balls up and they’re just going up and making plays.”
Brownwood scored on 50 percent (10 of 20) of its offensive possessions, but reached the end zone just 33 percent (4 of 12) of the time in the second half.
“I had an opportunity to watch the quarterback and see who he trusted and there’s big evidence that he trusts one or two more than the others,” Burnett said. “So we’re going to make sure as coaches we do what we need to do to get him comfortable with the others so that we can spread it across the board and not worry about who it’s going to, just execute the play.”
On the defensive end, the Lions’ foes converted 60 percent (12 of 20) of their drives into touchdowns, including 86 percent (6 of 7) in the second half of the two losses.
Brownwood picked off five passes – two by Jordan Leach and one apiece by Noah Barron, Owen Huntsinger, and Hinds. Three of the interceptions occurred in the end zone with the opponent facing a goal to goal situation.