COLLEGE STATION – Prior to qualifying for their 21st straight appearance in the 7-on-7 state tournament June 11 at the Jim Ned qualifier, the theme through the first four outings for the Brownwood Lions was inconsistency as evidenced by a quartet of 1-2 records.
At Veterans Park and Athletic Complex Thursday afternoon, inconsistency resurfaced for the Lions, who again posted a 1-2 pool play record. Following a 19-13 loss to reigning Class 4A Division I state champion Argyle in which several opportunities literally slipped through their fingers, the Lions rebounded with a 26-20 win over The Woodlands Christian, securing the victory on the final snap. Then, with apparent momentum on their side, the Lions labored in a 25-19 defeat against Hamshire-Fannett.
The loss to Hamshire-Fannett, coupled with The Woodlands Christian’s 18-14 upset of Argyle, left the Lions and Hamshire-Fannett tied for third place. Having lost head-to-head, the Lions will be the No. 4 seed from Pool F and face Pool B No. 1 seed Carthage at 8:45 a.m. Friday on Field 4A to begin play in the single elimination 32-team Division II state championship bracket.
Brownwood head coach Sammy Burnett, who observed Thursday’s action, said of the Lions, “I just think we’re inconsistent right now. We have to find a way to be consistent from game to game. Tomorrow’s a new day, I don’t know who we play but it will be a tough opponent but everyone around here’s tough. We better grow up and get consistent and do what we’re supposed to do and play our game and not let someone get in our head.”
The Lions scored on 9 of 17 drives (53 percent) as quarterback Chance Jones completed 44 of 69 passes (64 percent) with nine touchdowns and two interceptions, while being whistled for seven four-second calls, the equivalent of a sack in 7-on-7.
Case Markham led Brownwood with 13 catches and with a trip to the end zone, Jason Jackson hauled in 10 receptions and scored three times, Konlyn Anderson tallied nine grabs with a touchdown, Elias Huerta-Doud recorded eight catches and two touchdowns, and Thad Hinds yanked down four receptions and scored twice.
Markham against Argyle, Dryden Anderson against The Woodlands Christian, and Morsello Hooker against Hamshire-Fannett each picked off passes, but the Lions allowed touchdowns on 10 of 16 possessions (63 percent) during Thursday’s three contests.
In the loss to Argyle, the Lions defense forced a three-and-out to start the game, but a dropped pass on Brownwood’s first snap of the game – one of four in the contest – resulted in an interception.
Argyle then took a 6-0 lead but the Lions answered with a touchdown pass from Jones to Jackson, but couldn’t complete the extra point. Despite holding Argyle on its next two possessions, the Lions were unable to capitalize on offense and fell behind 12-6 midway the through the second half.
Brownwood later found itself in a 19-6 hole before a scoring toss from Jones to Hinds and an extra point reception by Konlyn Anderson closed the gap to 19-13 in the final seconds. The Lions scored on just two of seven possessions.
“We had opportunities in the first game against Argyle and we lost by six,” Burnett said. “We had a busted assignment and gave up an easy touchdown and then we had too many drops to win that game when I thought we should have won it.”
The Lions rebounded against The Woodlands Christian and never trailed, scoring on their first two possessions – with touchdowns by Huerta-Doud and Hinds – en route to a 14-7 halftime lead. The Woodlands Christian pulled even at 20 late, but Brownwood regained a 26-20 edge on another scoring connection between Jones and Huerta-Doud.
The Woodlands Christian’s final drive came down to a fourth-and-goal play from the 5 yard line, where the quarterback was whistled for a four-second call to end the contest.
“We played well against Woodlands Christian, put it together and played a good game,” Burnett said.
In the finale against Hamshire-Fannett, the Lions appeared flat from the start and were playing catch-up from the second snap of the contest. Knotted at 12 at halftime thanks to a pair touchdown receptions by Jackson, the Lions did not complete a pass on their first two possessions of the second half and fell in a 25-12 hole.
Brownwood scored in the closing seconds of the contest on a pass from Jones to Markham, who appeared to suffer a knee injury after being dragged down following the catch. Markham’s availability for Friday was unknown late Thursday.
“We played what I thought was the worst team in the pool, they did a lot of talking and we fed into that and got out of our game,” Burnett said. “They got into our heads and beat us.”
Looking ahead to Friday’s final day of 7-on-7 action this summer, Burnett said he wanted to see the Lions, “play with consistency and play with great character. You can’t bow down to level of the opponent, whether they’re chirping or not, we have to play to our level and play like Brownwood Lions play, with a lot of class and a lot of character, and be consistent with what we do.”
