JUSTIN – A year after earning their 22nd consecutive state tournament berth in their 7-on-7 summer debut, the Brownwood Lions weren’t as fortunate Saturday in their return to the Ponder Division II state qualifier, hosted by Justin Northwest High School.
After opening with a 13-6 victory over the Justin Northwest JV, the Lions fell to Graham, 21-18, and dropped a 25-6 decision to Wichita Falls – the team that knocked Brownwood out of the playoffs this past fall – to end their day shy of the state-qualifying semifinal round.
“I just talked to the boys and one of my old sayings is you are what record says you are. We were 1-2 today, and that’s the kind of team we are right now,” said Lions assistant head coach David Jones, who observed Saturday’s action. “We were not very good obviously, but this is our first state qualifier of the summer and we have a lot of room for improvement. We’ve got time to improve, but we have to do it a lot sooner than later.”
The Lions scored on just six of 18 possessions and committed four turnovers. Defensively, Brownwood intercepted three passes – two to end possessions and one on an extra-point attempt – but yielded touchdowns on eight of 18 opposing drives.
Quarterback Ike Hall connected on 44 of 77 passes with six scoring tosses and four interceptions. Hall was plagued by seven dropped passes from the receiving corps and was whistled for four seconds 10 times – including one on the go-ahead touchdown against Graham with 49 seconds left that ultimately decided the contest.
Leading receivers were Jaylan Brown with 13 catches and three touchdowns out of the backfield; Morsello Hooker with seven grabs and two trips to the end zone; Jake Jetton with seven catches as well; Hayden Noe with six grabs; Jordyn Nickerson with five and a touchdown; Carson Noe with five; and Ross Strasner with one catch.
Defensively, Nickerson and Strasner picked off passes near the goal line to foil scoring attempts against Northwest, while Gray Stewardson stopped a two-point try with his interception in the finale against Wichita Falls.
Against Northwest in the opener, the Lions trailed 6-0 at halftime but scored on two of three second-half possessions. Hall hit Hooker for the tying touchdown and Nickerson for the go-ahead two-point conversion to give Brownwood a 7-6 lead on its first drive of the second half.
Nickerson and Strasner intercepted passes on the next two Northwest possessions, and Hall found Nickerson for a touchdown in the closing seconds for the final seven-point margin.
Against Graham, the Lions struck first on a Hall to Hooker connection, but Graham rallied for a 7-6 lead. Just before intermission, Hall connected with Brown to push Brownwood in front, 12-7, at halftime despite the Steers picking off a pair of passes in the first half.
The teams traded scoreless possessions to begin the second half, then Graham reclaimed a 14-12 lead. The Lions responded with a seven-play drive that ended with another Hall to Brown scoring toss, pushing Brownwood back in front, 18-14.
Graham immediately answered and took a 21-18 lead with just under two minutes left, plenty of time for the Lions to rally. And it appeared they did when Hall connected with Jetton in the end zone with 49 seconds left, but a four-second call – the equivalent of a sack in 7-on-7 – was whistled, negating the score. The Lions’ next completion was short of the chains for a first down, as Graham took over and ran out the clock.
In the loss to Wichita Falls, the Lions struggled throughout scoring on just one of seven possessions and falling in a 25-point hole. At halftime, Brownwood had completed just three passes and for the game Hall finished 8 of 20 through the air.
After the Brownwood defense held Wichita Falls scoreless on its first possession, the Coyotes scored on the next four to seize control of the contest.
“I thought we looked tired at times and we’ve got kids playing both ways, but we’ve got too much talent standing on the sidelines for that to be the case and we have to roll some more guys in,” Jones said. “We have to learn how to run the right routes offensively and defensively our eyes were bad and our technique wasn’t very good. Those are things that have to get corrected by next weekend or we’re going to be faced with the same situation.”
The Lions are back in action Saturday, May 27 at the Burnet qualifier, host their own event on June 3 and travel to the Jim Ned qualifier on June 10.
