STEPHENVILLE – The Brownwood Lions committed a season-high three turnovers, mustered a season-low 147 yards of total offense, and were shutout for the second time this season in a 44-0 road loss to the Stephenville Yellow Jackets in the 84th Battle of 377 Friday night.
With the victory, Stephenville – which is ranked No. 3 in Class 4A Division I this week by Harris Ratings Weekly – secured no worse than a share of the District 4 championship and picked up its fifth consecutive victory over Brownwood, a first in the history of the series.
The Lions (4-4, 1-2) trailed just 13-0 at halftime and limited Stephenville (8-1, 3-0) to 98 yards of total offense over the first two quarters. But during the first nine minutes of the third quarter, the Lions yielded four touchdowns and Stephenville quickly expanded the advantage to 41-0.
“The first half we did some really good things and didn’t make many mistakes other than the big play up the middle for the touchdown,” said Lions seventh-year head coach Sammy Burnett. “The second half we came out and made too many mistakes and they owned us up front. They were able to put six in the box and drop everybody else. They could play the run with six and play the pass with everybody else and that got us in a bind. We just got beat in the second half. Too many mistakes in a ball game like this, against a team like this, and that’s the score you’re going to get. But we also showed in the first half if we don’t make mistakes and play hard we have a chance to play with teams like this.”
Brownwood now finds itself in a do-or-die situation heading into next week’s home and regular season finale against Marble Falls (2-7, 0-3) due to a unique points tiebreaker in District 4 where negative points are not applied.
If the Lions were to be upset by Marble Falls next week and Burnet (5-4, 1-2) – which had a bye Friday – drops its game against Stephenville, that would result in a three-way for third and fourth place. In that scenario, Burnet defeated Marble Falls, 43-7, and owns the maximum points in the tiebreaker, however, Marble Falls is at 0 points with the loss.
Therefore, Brownwood’s 31-30 overtime win over Burnet has the Lions at +1, while Burnet is not penalized and still owns the max points. With the Lions at +1, a loss to Marble Falls by any margin, even by 1 point, gives the edge for the fourth seed to Marble Falls, as the Lions would have then lost the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Defeat Marble Falls next Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Gordon Wood Stadium, and the Lions are headed to the postseason for the 16th year in a row and 51st time in program history.
“We’ve got to get a win, if we win we’re in and play probably Pecos or Big Spring in San Angelo,” Burnett said. “That’s our goal and what we’re going to look forward to. I’m proud of our kids, they’re holding their heads high and we have an opportunity to go to the playoffs next week with a win. That’s what we expect to do, and good Lord willing we’ll have a chance to play Stephenville again.”
Of Brownwood’s 147 total yards, 41 came on the ground on 23 carries by six different ball carriers – an average of just 1.8 yards per tote – along with 106 through the air as quarterback Judson Coalson connected on 12 of 23 attempts with one interception. Carson Noe hauled in a game-high six receptions for 73 yards.
Stephenville finished with just 283 yards – 187 rushing and 96 passing – as the Yellow Jackets played on a short field most of the night, starting their 11 possessions on average at the Brownwood 49. Meanwhile, the Lions’ 11 drives averaged starting on their own 30.
Neither team scored in the first quarter as Stephenville managed just 16 yards to Brownwood’s 30, but a Lion fumble at midfield on an exchange between Coalson and running back Trey Mosley early in the second was scooped up by Yellow Jacket Kutter Stone, who returned the ball 37 yards to the Lion 13. Stephenville lost 4 yards on the possession, however, and settled for a 34-yard Cade Whitehead field goal for a 3-0 lead with 9:44 left before halftime.
“Coach (David) Jones had a phenomenal scheme, something they hadn’t seen before and they were reeling,” Burnett said. “We did a good job the second half, too, but they were on the field too long. You can’t have the defense on the field and expect to score points. We’ll take ownership on the offensive side, we weren’t able to move the ball on the ground like we wanted to and weren’t able to throw the ball, they dictated what we did.”
The Lions’ first three-and-out of the night followed the Yellow Jacket field goal and Stephenville took over at the Brownwood 48 after a 27-yard punt. Following a pass interference call, which gave the Yellow Jackets their initial first down of the game with just under eight minutes left in the first half, Zyler McClendon contributed a 33-yard scoring sprint for a 10-0 Stephenville lead with 7:51 left in the second period.
Another three-and-out followed for the Lions and Stephenville marched 43 yards to the Brownwood 18 before settling for a 35-yard field goal with 31 seconds left before intermission, as the Lions trailed 13-0 at the break.
The Lions started the second half with the ball and after a completion from Coalson to Noe for 30 yards on the first snap, the ball was jarred loose from Coalson at the Lion 44 and recovered by Stephenville’s CJ Spellmeier. Three plays later Ryan Gafford found Jhett Banuelos for a 30-yard scoring strike just 1:21 into the second half.
Trailing 20-0, another three-and-out followed for the Lions and three plays later Sawyer Wilkerson – who rushed for a game-high 95 yards – broke free for a 37-yard scoring sprint just 1:39 later.
With the Yellow Jackets in front 27-0, Willis Jackson grabbed an interception of Coalson and returned the ball 74 yards for another Stephenville touchdown, and a 34-0 score, at the 6:17 mark of the third.
Three-and-out No. 5 of the night was next for the Lions, and the Yellow Jackets took over at their own 44 following a 28-yard punt. Five plays later, Gafford and Banuelos connected again for a 28-yard touchdown and a 41-0 advantage with 2:54 left in the third.
Stephenville added a third field goal from Whitehead, from 26 yards out, with 43 seconds remaining, to cap the scoring.
***
Stephenville 44, Brownwood 0
SCORE BY QUARTERS
| Brownwood | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – 0 |
| Stephenville | 0 | 13 | 28 | 3 | – 44 |
***
SCORING SUMMARY
S: Cade Whitehead 34 FG, 9:44, 2nd
S: Zyler McClendon 33 run (Whitehead kick), 7:51, 2nd
S: Whitehead 34 FG, 0:31, 2nd
S: Jhett Banuelos 30 pass from Ryan Gafford (Whitehead kick), 10:39, 3rd
S: Sawyer Wilkerson 37 run (Whitehead kick), 9:00, 3rd
S: Willis Jackson 74 INT return (Whitehead kick), 6:17, 3rd
S: Banuelos 28 pass from Gafford (Whitehead kick), 2:54, 3rd
S: Whitehead 26 FG, 0:43, 4th
***
| TEAM STATS | Brownwood | Stephenville |
| First Downs | 8 | 15 |
| Total Offense | 147 | 283 |
| Rushes-Yards | 23-41 | 33-187 |
| Passing Yards | 106 | 96 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 12-23-1 | 10-13-0 |
| Fumbles Lost | 2 | 0 |
| Penalties-Yards | 4-35 | 8-70 |
| Punts-Average | 5-26.0 | 4-30.5 |
***
PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: B – Trey Mosley 12-35; Stone Ratliff 1-9; Matthew Rodriguez 4-7; Grant Gray 1-(-1), Aaron Edmonds 1-(-3); Judson Coalson 4-(-6). S – Sawyer Wilkerson 11-95, TD; Zyler McClendon 12-80, TD; Ryan Gafford 4-6; Julio Cedillo 3-2; Jack Butchee 2-2; Kolton Dearth 1-2.
PASSING: B – Coalson 12-23-1-106. S – Gafford 10-13-0-96, 2 TDs.
RECEIVING: B – Carson Noe 6-73; Edmonds 2-8; Rodriguez 2-7; Gray 1-14; Braeden Stacks 1-6. S – Jhett Banuelos 3-68, 2 TDs; Tristan Gentry 3-11; Wilkerson 2-11; Bryson Powell 2-6.
KICKING: B – Eli Valenciano 0 of 0 FGs. 0 of 0 PATs.
Eli Valenciano – 5 punts for 130 yards, 26.0 average – 0 inside 20.
