The first scrimmage of the preseason, while eagerly anticipated by players and coaches, usually is treated as simple practice and the opportunity to smash heads with someone other than a teammate.

For the Brownwood Lions, however, Friday’s trip to Decatur will provide an early glimpse at the reigning Class 4A Division I Region I champion Eagles, ranked No. 5 in Dave Campbell’s Texas Football preseason poll.

The Lions and Eagles are projected to square off again in December, according to DCTF, as each team is picked to reach to the 4A Division I Region I final. Despite the potential for a postseason encounter, Lions sixth-year head coach Sammy Burnett stated Friday’s scrimmage will be conducted with a business as usual approach by Brownwood.

“Friday is a good opportunity to build some confidence against a good Decatur team,” Burnett said. “They’re going to be really good and it’s going to be a good opportunity to go out and measure ourselves and see what areas we need to work on. We know our opportunity see them will be late, late in the season if we’re blessed to do so. We’re focusing on getting ready for Week 1. We face a very strong Wylie team that went far last year, and we know we’ll have our hands full, so we’re trying to get ready for that. Friday is just a practice for us.”

Scrimmage action will kick off at 4 p.m. with the JV and freshman squads on opposite ends of the field. The varsity squads are set to square off shortly after 5 p.m.

The varsity scrimmage will feature a total of 108 plays in a controlled format – 30 plays by each first team offense, 30 plays by each first team defense, each in sets of 10, along with 24 plays by each second team offense, and 24 plays by each second team defense, in sets of 8.

“We only have a certain amount of plays and I want to see great execution, great physicality and finished drives,” Burnett said. “For me, if we drove down in 10 plays and scored three times, that would be very successful.. It’s about putting together drives and avoiding penalties that stop drives or poor execution. Every time we touch the ball, we want to go down and score.

“Defensively, we don’t want to give them the big play. We need to make sure we’re sound. Decatur runs a lot of motion and play action and then they try and throw the ball vertically. We have to be disciplined in what we do, and of course the goal on defense is to keep them out of the end zone.”

Decatur returns six offensive and five defensive starters from an 11-4 state semifinals squad last season, led by 5-11, 185-pound running back Nate Palmer, who rushed for 2,250 yards and 25 touchdowns a year ago and verbally committed to TCU over the summer. The Eagles averaged 39 points and 408 yards – 265 rushing and 143 passing – while allowing 22 points per outing a season ago.

Goals for the Lions defense in the scrimmage, according to Burnett, are “to be fast and physical. Control your gap, do what you’re supposed to do to be able to let your teammate do his job as well. Sometimes the best plays are guys that didn’t make the tackle at all but just did his job so someone else could do their job. I want to see them do what they’re asked to do, do it very fast and very physical.”

The strength of the Brownwood team heading into the season is the defense, where the bulk of last year’s unit that yielded 17 points and 269 yards – 153 rushing and 116 passing – per game, with 21 takeaways, returns.

Preseason projections featured Sam Kallman, Stevie Ramirez and Jaylan Brown manning the starting linebacker positions with Zakk Zabecki expected to rotate into the mix.

Returning in the secondary are Morsello Hooker and Jordyn Nickerson at the corners and safeties Jake Jetton, Colton McMillian and Hayden Noe.

The front line will likely end up featuring three new starters in a combination of Robert Trowbridge, Weston Wolf, Dominic Moseley and Julius Lara as the Lions attempt to avoid starting players two ways, if possible.

On the offensive side of the ball, where only one starter returns, the coaching staff will keep an eye on “winning the line of scrimmage, up front,” Burnett said. “I don’t want to see a bunch of busted assignments. We’ll back off from what we’ve implemented so far and be generic in our run game. We have multiple running backs that all bring a different trait to the table. I want our quarterback to run the show, run the huddle and keep his calm, execute and read the defense when we’re throwing the football and take what they’re giving us. Receiver-wise, I want to see great routes, fast routes, understanding zones and what coverages Decatur is in, and knowing where your windows are so we can execute. When they don’t get the ball, they need to be blocking so we can get to the second level.”

Ike Hall is the lone starter returning at quarterback, while current projections along the offensive line feature Quinten McCarty at left tackle, Cole Miller at left guard, and Davis Le at center – last year’s starting defensive front. The right side of the line will feature Aidan Packhauser at guard and Logan Knight at tackle.

The rotation among the receiving corps – which lost 10 players from last year – includes Morsello Hooker, Jordyn Nickerson, Jake Jetton, Hayden Noe, Grant Gray, Carson Noe and Ross Strasner on the outside. The competition at slot receiver includes Aaron Edmonds, Xavier Zepeda, Kenyan McDowell, Stone Ratliff, Gray Stewardson and Colton McMillian.

Lining up in the backfield will be a combination of Jaylan Brown as a bruising back, Logan McKibben as a slasher, and Noah Gonzalez who led the charge on the ground for the JV last year. Jetton will also see some time at tailback due to his speed.

Burnett added the Lions are headed into the scrimmage with a clean bill of health as no players will miss action due to injury.