The No. 9 Brownwood Lions poured on the points on the offensive end, while the defense stifled the slot-T attack of the Marble Falls Mustangs en route to a convincing 56-7 victory Friday night in the 2023 home opener at Gordon Wood Stadium.
Fresh off last week’s 35-21 triumph at Class 5A Division II Abilene Wylie, the Lions are off to their first 2-0 start to a season since 2019, while the Mustangs dipped to 0-2 overall.
“I’m really proud of the kids,” said Lions sixth-year head coach Sammy Burnett. “We played well defensively and took away what they wanted to do which was run the ball on the inside and made them go on the perimeter. Offensively, we did a good job of throwing and catching. Our quarterback did a good job of seeing what he’s supposed to see and reading the defense. They gave him some opportunities, and he was on them.”
The Lions ran just 39 plays from scrimmage but scored on eight of them – or 21 percent of the snaps taken. Behind the play of offensive linemen Quinten McCarty, Cole Miller, Davis Le, Aidan Packheiser and Logan Knight, Brownwood also generated 463 total yards over those 39 snaps, an average of 11.8 yards per play, and of the eight touchdowns, seven different Lions reached the end zone Friday night.
Brownwood finished with 315 yards passing led by Ike Hall’s 309-yard, three-touchdown effort as he completed 9 of 12 attempts. Hayden Noe pulled down a team-high three catches for 117 yards, including a 94-yard reception that started the scoring. Stone Ratliff added two grabs for 61 yards and a score, Aaron Edmonds hauled in two receptions for 56 yards, and Weston Wolf snared a 34-yard scoring toss – his first-ever touchdown at any level of football.
On the ground, the Lions churned out 148 yards on 26 carries – 5.7 yards per tote – with five trips to the end zone. Hall led the way with 57 yards and a touchdown, Levi Pearson chipped in 53 yards and scored once – and also caught a 32-yard pass – Case Burnett added 27 yards, Braeden Stacks finished with 17 and a touchdown and Jaylan Brown scored twice and tacked on 14 yards.
Defensively for the Lions, despite facing a slot-T run-heavy offense, Brownwood yielded just 2.5 yards per carry for the second week in a row. The Mustangs generated 145 total yards, with 113 coming on the ground on 45 carries. For the season, the Lions have surrendered just 191 rushing yards on 77 attempts – an average of 2.48 yards per carry and 95.5 yards per game.
“When your offense wants to run the football and grind out first downs, to stop a team from doing that is demoralizing for them,” Burnett said. “Our kids did what they were asked to do, they played extremely disciplined, sound football and you have to against an offense like that.”
Marble Falls also completed just 2 of 6 passes for 32 yards as Kenyan McDowell recorded an interception – the Lions’ third in two games – which marked the game’s only turnover.
Sam Kallman and Stevie Ramirez, both nursing injuries throughout the week, led the Lions with 21 and 17 tackles, respectively.
The Mustangs ate 7:15 off the clock on the first drive of the game and advanced to the Lions’ 47 in 11 plays before punting the ball to the Brownwood 7. After losing 5 yards on the first snap, the Lions gained 4 back on second down and faced 3rd-and-11 from the 6.
There, Hall rolled out on a bootleg, evaded the rush and barely avoided stepping out of the back of the end zone, but centered himself and heaved the ball down the left sideline, where Hayden Noe made a leaping catch near midfield and outran the Marble Falls defense to the end zone to complete a 94-yard touchdown that gave Brownwood a 7-0 lead with 3:16 left in the opening stanza.
“I just remember being wide open and no one near me and then I remember being in the end zone and tossing the ball to the ref,” Noe said.
Burnett said, “That was big because we lost 5 yards, then we run a bootleg with Ike and he had to beat the back side backer and he did and kept his eyes up and scrambled and hit an open receiver and turned into a touchdown. It’s big to keep a play alive and find an open receiver and turn a decent play into a huge play.”
Brownwood’s defense then held Marble Falls to a three-and-out – which the Lions did on five occasions, along with a pair of four-and-outs – to get the ball back on its own 15 with 53 seconds left in the first quarter.
“It was special performance just playing against that kind of offense,” Wolf said. “It’s a dogfight every play, 3 yards and a cloud of dust. There’s no finesse, just straight going at it every play as hard as you can. It was special to be a part of.”
Following a 20-yard completion from Hall to Edmonds, Hall again escaped the rush on a first-and-10 from the Brownwood 35 and galloped 65 yards into the end zone to boost the lead to 14-0 with seven seconds left in the first quarter.
After amassing 178 yards on just five snaps in the first quarter, the Lions began their first drive of the second period at their own 44. A 28-yard carry by Pearson, coupled with a personal foul call, set up Brown for a 5-yard touchdown run and 21-0 Lions lead with 8:39 left in the first half.
Brownwood boosted the lead to 28-0 after a stop on fourth-and-1 at the Mustang 30 ignited a two-play scoring drive. First, Hall connected with Ratliff on a 29-yard pass down to the 1, then Pearson barreled into the end zone for his first touchdown of the season with 6:08 left before halftime
At the 3:40 mark of the second quarter, the Lions capped a two-play drive that again began after Marble Falls failed to convert a fourth-and-1 on its end of the field. On the second play, Hall floated a 34-yard scoring toss to a wide open Wolf to increase the advantage to 35-0.
“That’s the first touchdown I ever scored in my life – TYFL, middle school, freshman, JV, any of it,” Wolf said.
Brownwood appeared as if it would pitch a first-half shutout, but a fourth-down roughing the passer call in the final minute extended Marble Falls’ only scoring drive, capped by a 2-yard touchdown run from Dominic Fierro as time expired.
“Other than the last drive of the first half where we had a penalty and should have been off the field and instead let them continue to drive and score points I thought our defense played extremely well,” Burnett said. “Our backups got in there and played really well too.”
Leading 35-7 at the break, the Lions missed a 44-yard field goal attempt of their first possession of the second half, but traveled 72 yards in just three plays on the next possession to increase the advantage to 42-7.
Following a 32-yard completion from Hall to Pearson, Hall later connected with Ratliff on a 32-yard scoring toss.
“We have some good communication up front, we work well together the O-line unit, and we try and give Ike as much time as we can,” said Le, one of multiple Lions plagued by injuries throughout the week but able to compete Friday night.
With 13 seconds left in the third period, the Lions finished off a 19-yard drive that started with a Noah Gonzalez fourth-down sack as Brown scored his second touchdown of the game – and fourth on the ground this season – from 5 yards out for a 49-7 edge.
Brownwood’s final touchdown drive featured the reserves as an 11-play, 45-yard trek reached its conclusion on a 2-yard touchdown run by quarterback Braeden Stacks with 4:10 left in the contest.
Regarding the performance of the reserves, Burnett said, “Not only did they get to play but they had success and had smiles on their faces and the joy in the heart. They work hard, too, but it’s varsity football and you’re never guaranteed time on the field so they have to go earn that. This gives us an opportunity to see them on film and the chance for them to maybe earn more time on the field.”
Next week, the Lions will host Burnet (1-1), which is coming off a 47-12 home victory over Llano Friday night. The Bulldogs dropped their season opener at LaVernia, 49-27.
“I’ve seen them film just a little bit but they always play us well so we better bring our ‘A’ game or it’s going to be a very long night,” Burnett said. “They’re a very good football team in my opinion so we have to be ready to go.”
***
Lions 56, Marble Falls 7
SCORE BY QUARTERS
| Marble Falls | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | – 7 |
| Brownwood | 14 | 21 | 14 | 7 | – 56 |
***
SCORING SUMMARY
B: Hayden Noe 94 pass from Ike Hall (Junior Martinez kick), 3:16, 1st
B: Hall 65 run (Martinez kick), 0:07, 1st
B: Jaylan Brown 5 run (Martinez kick), 8:39, 2nd
B: Levi Pearson 1 run (Martinez kick), 6:08, 2nd
B: Weston Wolf 34 pass from Hall (Martinez kick), 3:40, 2nd
M: Dominic Fierro 2 run (Isaac Larranga kick), 0:00, 2nd
B: Stone Ratliff 32 pass from Hall (Martinez kick), 4:30, 3rd
B: Brown 6 run (Martinez kick), 0:13, 3rd
B: Braeden Stacks 2 run (Martinez kick), 4:10, 4th
***
| TEAM STATS | M | B |
| First Downs | 7 | 18 |
| Total Offense | 145 | 463 |
| Rushes-Yards | 45-113 | 26-148 |
| Passing Yards | 32 | 315 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 2-6-1 | 10-13-0 |
| Penalties-Yards | 6-33 | 5-50 |
| Fumbles Lost | 0 | 0 |
| Punts-Average | 4-43.7 | 0-0.0 |
***
PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: Marble Falls – Joaquin Aguilar 11-41; CJ Alexander 4-37; Dominic Fierro 12-18, TD; Dax Murphy 1-17; Mason Long 9-13; Noah Luckie 3-3; Jonathan Hernandez 2-0; Jett Matrich 3-(-12). Brownwood – Ike Hall 3-57, TD; Levi Pearson 9-53, TD; Case Burnett 7-27; Braeden Stacks 3-17, TD; Jaylan Brown 4-14, 2 TDs.
PASSING: Marble Falls – Matrich 1-2-0-30; Luckie 1-4-1-2. Brownwood – Hall 9-12-0-309, 3 TDs; Stacks 1-1-0-6.
RECEIVING: Marble Falls – Murphy 1-30; Aguilar 1-2. Brownwood – Hayden Noe 3-117, TD; Stone Ratliff 2-61, TD; Aaron Edmonds 2-56; Weston Wolf 1-34, TD; Pearson 1-32; Carson Noe 1-6.
KICKING: Brownwood – Junior Martinez 8 of 8 PATs. 0 for 1 FG attempts, missed from 44.
0 punts, 0 yards, 0.0 average.
