BURNET – A roller coaster ride through four games at the Burnet 7-on-7 Division II qualifier Saturday culminated with the Brownwood Lions’ 23rd consecutive trip to the state tournament.
The Lions – coming off a 1-2 performance at the Ponder qualifier a week ago – defeated Gatesville, 19-13, in the championship game of the eight-team tournament as both teams reached the final after emerging from three-way tiebreakers in their respective pools.
“We played better today but there’s certainly room for improvement,” said Lions assistant head coach David Jones, who observed Saturday’s action. “I congratulated the kids at the end and I’m happy we qualified, that’s a big deal for us, but we have to see improvement every week and I feel like we did that today. That’s the most important part.”
Brownwood, which posted a 3-1 overall record Saturday, knocked off Llano, 26-20 in overtime, and Little River-Academy, 27-20, but lost to Somerset, 19-13 in pool play. The Lions, Little River-Academy and Somerset were all tied for first place with 2-1 pool marks, and the first tiebreaker was most points scored in which Brownwood and Academy were even. The second tiebreaker was points allowed, and the Lions surrendered the fewest in the pool, which allowed them to move on the final.
Gatesville, Burnet and Taylor finished in a three-way tie in the other pool with the Hornets advancing in the end.
The Lions 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.
“Our defense played well and that’s what got us through the tiebreaker scenario was points against,” Jones said. “The kids are playing well, but we still have some work to do with our eyes to make sure we’re not looking at the wrong things.”
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).
The Lions had a plethora of opportunities to tack on additional points in all four contests, but have labored thus far this summer in terms of building multi-score advantages.
“We’ve played seven tournament games in state qualifiers and we haven’t been ahead by more than a touchdown at any point,” Jones said. “In this game, when you’re up a touchdown and your defense stops somebody, you have to go score again and we’ve not been able to do that. We have to figure out a way to get that done. When halves only last 15 minutes, if you can get up by two touchdowns it’s almost over.”
In the tournament finale against Gatesville, the Lions scored the winning touchdown in the closing seconds after the Hornets drew even at 13 with 90 seconds left. Hall – who was 5 or 5 on the last drive, and 22 of 30 for the game – connected with Ratliff on an out route for the decisive score, and the clock expired before the extra point try, sealing the win for Brownwood.
“Ike did a real good job,” Jones said. “We talked to him after the third game when we got down there close to scoring when we had about a minute left and I felt like we didn’t have a good offensive plan because he was struggling to call a play. I talked to him between games and told him when we get to crunch time you need to have a script in your mind where you don’t have to think about what to call, and he looked like he had a good plan that last game and did a good job executing.”
Brownwood took a 6-0 lead early on Gatesville with a scoring toss from Hall to Carson Noe. The Lions followed with interceptions by Jetton and Zepeda, but were unable to extend the advantage as Gatesville later answered with two picks of its own.
The Hornets seized a 7-6 lead early in the second half but the Lions immediately answered with another Hall to Carson Noe scoring connection, as Brownwood owned a 13-7 edge until the final two minutes.
“Our attitude was certainly better,” Jones said. “In Game 3 we started chirping a little bit but we shut that down in a hurry. Our guys got to a point in the last game where we just worried about ourselves, and that’s the most important part. We had some positive chatter, we could hear a lot of encouragement. Our guys really wanted this and I’m glad they could get it.”
In the Lions’ only loss of the day to Somerset, Brownwood again scored first on a Hall to Carson Noe touchdown but missed the extra point. Somerset immediately answered for a 7-6 edge. After Nickerson picked off a Somerset pass, the Lions again gave the ball back on an interception, but eventually grabbed a 13-7 lead on yet another Hall to Carson Noe touchdown.
Somerset answered just before halftime to knot the score at 13, then took a 19-13 lead on its first possession of the second half. The Lions went three-and-out on their first drive, but stopped a Somerset drive on fourth-and-goal from the 1. Brownwood then pieced together a nine-play drive with a chance to tie or win in the closing seconds, but the final two pass attempts fell incomplete as time expired.
The Lions needed overtime in their first game to notch a victory. After falling behind Llano, 6-0, the Lions grabbed a 7-6 halftime lead as Hall connected with McKibben in the end zone and Carson Noe added the extra point catch.
Brownwood boosted the lead to 13-6 on the first possession of the second half with a Hall scoring toss to Hooker, but the extra point was incomplete.
Llano drew even at 13 before Hall found Hayden Noe in the end zone for 20-13 advantage. In the closing seconds, Llano found the end zone to make the score 20-19, and the Lions appeared to deflect away the extra point pass, but a Llano receiver pulled down the pigskin to force overtime.
In the extra session – which consisted of four plays from the 15 – the Lions scored on the second snap as a pass to Ratliff set up a scoring toss from Hall to Brown. Brownwood’s defense countered by holding Llano out of the end zone on its four snaps.
The Lions followed with a 27-20 victory over Little River-Academy in a game in which 10 different Brownwood players caught a pass.
Brownwood took a 6-0 lead on a Hall to Brown touchdown, then LRA created a tie at 6. Hall and Brown hooked up again in the end zone as the Lions carried a 13-6 lead into halftime.
LRA tied the score at 13 on its first drive of the second half, the Lions regained a 20-13 cushion on touchdown from Hall to Zepeda, and Brownwood witnessed Academy again pull even at 20.
Brownwood forged ahead, 27-20, on a touchdown pass and extra point from Hall to Carson Noe, while the Lions clinched the victory when Hayden Noe picked off an LRA pass attempt in the final minute.
The Lions will compete in the 7-on-7 Division II State Tournament at Veterans Park and Athletic Complex in College Station June 22-23, but beforehand Brownwood hosts its own qualifier on June 3 and heads to Jim Ned June 10.
“Qualifying is great, but our goal is to improve each and every week,” Jones said. “What we’re looking for is not to be satisfied in qualifying, but to continue to progress. Our goal is still what happens in the fall, and the best thing we can do for fall football is win in 7-on-7. These next two tournaments we need to go in with the mindset we’re going to win every ballgame and get better as we do it.”
