With their 23rd consecutive trip to the 7-on-7 Division II State Tournament secured, the Brownwood Lions will continue to working on improving for the fall campaign as they host their own qualifier at the high school.
“It’s good that they’ve qualified and it’s important to the kids that they qualify,” said Lions head football coach Sammy Burnett. “For me, my stance is I want to see growth and that’s why we do this. There was one spot to qualify at Burnet and they got that spot and it was big. Now we can relax a little bit and just work on us Saturday in our qualifier and also June 10 at Jim Ned.”
Saturday’s Pool A games will provide a glimpse into the 2023 fall season as the Lions will tangle with Burnet at 9 a.m., Glen Rose at 10:30 a.m. and San Angelo Lake View at noon – all teams on Brownwood’s 11-man schedule. Having clinched a state berth already, the Lions cannot advance past pool play.
Two teams from Saturday’s 16-team field will join Brownwood June 22-23 at College Station’s Veterans Park and Athletic Complex for state.
Pool B is comprised of Llano, Clyde, Kaufman and Graham – which has already qualified. Pool C features Wichita Falls, Jim Ned, Breckenridge and state qualifier Breckenridge. Pool D is made up of Stephenville, Ponder, Gatesville, and Dallas First Baptist Academy – none of which has punched a ticket yet for College Station.
The pool winners will square off in semifinal games, where those victors will wrap up state berths.
The Lions are coming off a 3-1 performance at the Burnet qualifier this past Saturday, defeating Llano 26-20 in OT, Little River-Academy 27-20 and Gatesville 19-13 in the championship. Brownwood also dropped a 19-13 decision to Somerset in its pool play finale, but advanced to the championship game based on fewest point allowed in its pool.
Brownwood’s defense allowed touchdowns on just 11 of 24 opponent possessions and intercepted six passes – three by Jordyn Nickerson and one apiece by Hayden Noe, Jake Jetton and Xavier Zepeda.
Offensively, the Lions reached the end zone on 13 of 26 drives as quarterback Ike Hall connected on 67 of 108 pass attempts – 62 percent – with 13 touchdowns and four interceptions. Leading receivers included Carson Noe (17 catches, 5 TDs), Jaylan Brown (9 catches, 3 TDs), Stone Ratliff (8 catches, 1 TD), Morsello Hooker (7 catches, 1 TD), Jake Jetton (5 catches), Hayden Noe and Logan McKibben (4 catches, 1 TD), Ross Strasner, Jordyn Nickerson, and Aaron Edmonds (4 catches), and Xavier Zepeda (1 catch, 1 TD).
Burnett added if the tournament is marred by inclement weather, the first option is to move games to Gordon Wood Stadium. If that is not possible due to a rescheduled graduation, games will then be played at the Early and Bangs football stadiums.