STEPHENVILLE – Through the first five games of the 2022 football campaign, the Brownwood Lions had played their best ball after halftime. However, a nightmarish third quarter Friday night during the 82^nd “Battle of 377” brought the Lions’ four-game win streak to an end.

The Lions, ranked No. 5 in Class 4A Division I by Harris Ratings Weekly, and the top-ranked, defending state champion Stephenville Yellow Jackets were knotted at 14 midway through their rivalry game.

But in the third period, the Lions committed two of their three turnovers, had a kickoff return for a touchdown called back due to penalty, and picked up half of their six flags for 65 yards during the quarter, which allowed Stephenville the opportunity to string together three touchdowns in a four-minute span en route to a 42-21 victory, the 22^nd in a row overall for the Yellow Jackets and third straight in the 85-year-old series.

“We’ve proven we can play with anybody when we play, but in the second half we didn’t do that,” said Lions fifth-year head coach Sammy Burnett. “You can’t have turnovers and give up big plays on defense and expect to be successful. It was a Jekyll and Hyde thing which we haven’t seen this year, but there’s lessons to be learned and we’re going to learn them.”

The Lions (4-2) finished with 379 yards of total offense – 232 passing and 147 rushing – compared to the total of 415 yards for Stephenville (6-0) – 269 through the air and 136 on the ground. Brownwood held Stephenville to its lowest point total of the season and 163 yards under its average nightly output. But the Lions did give up three touchdowns of more than 50 yards, and Brownwood committed the game’s only three turnovers against a Yellow Jacket defense that had been surrendering 46 points and 468 yards per contest.

“We played a good half and there were some things I thought we could do, but we came out there in the second half and gave them a big play and then turnovers started hurting us,” said Burnett, whose team had allowed just 21 points in the second half all season prior to Friday night. “We had two for sure that were momentum swingers, and you can’t do that against a team that’s No. 1 in the state and expect to be successful. I’m stunned a little bit, we got hit by a couple of jabs, but it’s on us.”

Even at 14 at the break, Stephenville took the opening possession of the second half and traveled 75 yards in nine plays before quarterback Ryan Gafford – who completed 11 of 19 passes with four scoring tosses – connected with Wyatt Kreutz on a 24-yard touchdown pass at the 8:39 mark of the third period to stake the Yellow Jackets to a 21-14 lead.

Brownwood’s first drive on the second half ended after four plays when quarterback Ike Hall – who was 16 of 27 through the air with a pair of scoring tosses and two picks – was intercepted near midfield by Rowdy Markland, who returned the ball to the Lion 12. Four plays later, a 1-yard touchdown run by Caden Henderson stretched the Stephenville lead to 28-14 with 5:58 left in the third.

The Lions appeared to swing the momentum back in their favor when Jake Jetton returned the ensuing kickoff for an apparent touchdown. But a flag negated the play, and two snaps later Hall lost a fumble at the Yellow Jacket 42 that Taylor Bennett recovered.

Just three plays later, Tristian Gentry caught a short pass from Gafford, wiggled out of a tackle attempt and raced 55 yards to the end zone to boost the Stephenville lead to 35-14 at the 4:01 mark of the third quarter.

The Lions’ next drive ended with a failed fourth-and-1 attempt from their own 46, which led to another Stephenville touchdown drive that culminated on the first play of the fourth quarter – a 33-yard, fourth-and-8 scoring toss from Gafford to Payton Poston, who led the Yellow Jackets with five catches for 81 yards.

Trailing 42-14, Brownwood was able to light up the scoreboard again before the game concluded as Hall connected with Jason Jackson – 2021’s leading receiver making his return from a broken bone in his leg – on a 34-yard touchdown pass with 1:36 remaining.

“He was extremely rusty, but we wanted to get him back in the groove,” Burnett said of Jackson. “He’s still explosive when he’s rusty and he had an opportunity to make some plays and got a touchdown late. We have to work him back in, but it was nice to see he was able to be back out here and be in this environment again. He’s been out about five weeks so to have him back going into district is going to be special because he’s a tough one to cover.”

In a back-and-forth first half, the Lions struck first as they scored on their second drive of the game. A 20-yard run by Hall – who finished with a team-high 88 yards rushing – was followed by a 34-yard connection with Jordan Leach – who led the team with five grabs for 81 yards – down to the Stephenville 1. On the next snap, Konlyn Anderson – who was limited to 59 yards – scored his eighth rushing touchdown to give Brownwood a 7-0 edge with 6:58 left in the first period.

Stephenville answered with a 50-yard touchdown run by Tate Maruska – who entered the game have rushed for 1,182 yards and 15 touchdowns – to knot the score at 7 with 1:57 left in the first period. Maruska ended the night with 108 rushing yards on 18 carries.

In the second period, the Lions appeared poised to regain the lead after a short Stephenville punt gave Brownwood the ball at the Yellow Jacket 35. On the very next play, Hall went deep to Jackson in the end zone, who made a diving grab. However, when Jackson hit the ground the ball popped out, bounced off a Stephenville defender and into the hands of Yellow Jacket Brad Beaty for an interception and the first turnover of the game.

Stephenville was unable to capitalize on that mistake, but later in the quarter – after one of Brownwood’s five punts – Maruska again scored on a 74-yard catch and run. Gafford through a pass almost parallel to the line of scrimmage and the Yellow Jacket running back navigated his way through the Lion defense for a 14-7 lead with 2:14 left in the first half.

The Lions fired back with perhaps their most impressive drive of the season, moving 82 yards in just six plays to even the score at 14. A 32-yard completion from Hall to Brayden Daub – who caught a season-high three passes for 50 yards – immediately moved the ball to midfield, Then, Hall connected with 2022 leading receiver Thad Hinds who made a one-handed grab on a 43-yard reception down the Stephenville 7. Later, facing third-and-goal from the 7, Hall and Hinds made their fourth touchdown connection of the season on an out route, and Junior Martinez booted the extra point to deadlock the game at intermission.

Next week, the Lions kick off District 2-3A Division I competition in their homecoming game against Big Spring (4-2), which is coming off a 63-28 loss to Seminole.

“This was a test for us to see where we are and where we need to be in case we have an opportunity to play (Stephenville) down the road,” Burnett said. “Against elite football teams you cannot turn the ball over and let them take the momentum. If you do, you see what happened and how they blew the game open. Big Spring is going to be a worthy opponent and we’re going to respect everyone and fear no one. We’re going to take the good from the first half and show them on film what you can do when you play well. And we’re going to remind them if we play like we played the second half tonight against anybody in our district, we’ll get beat.”

***

Stephenville 42, Lions 21

SCORE BY QUARTERS

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SCORING SUMMARY

B: Konlyn Anderson 1 run (Junior Martinez kick), 6:58, 1^st

S: Tate Maruska 50 run (Diego Chavarria kick), 1:57, 1^st

S: Maruska 74 pass from Ryan Gafford (Chavarria kick), 2:17, 2^nd

B: Thad Hinds 7 pass from Ike Hall (Martinez kick), 0:27, 2^nd

S: Wyatt Kreutz 24 pass from Gafford (Chavarria kick), 8:09, 3^rd

S: Caden Henderson 1 run (Chavarria kick), 5:58, 3^rd

S: Tristian Gentry 55 pass from Gafford (Chavarria kick), 4:01, 3^rd

S: Payton Poston 33 pass from Gafford (Chavarria kick), 11:51, 4^th

B: Jason Jackson 34 pass from Hall (Martinez kick), 1:36, 4th

***

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PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: Brownwood – Ike Hall 17-88; Konlyn Anderson 18-59, TD Stephenville – Tate Maruska 18-108, TD; Caden Henderson 13-31, TD; Ryan Gafford 6-10; Carson Sandford 1-(5).

PASSING: Brownwood – Hall 16-27-2-232, 2 TDs. Stephenville – Gafford 11-19-0, 4 TDs.

RECEIVING: Brownwood – Jordan Leach 5-81; Brayden Daub 3-50; Thad Hinds 2-50, TD; Morsello Hooker 2-8; Anderson 2-5; Jason Jackson 1-34, TD; Taylor Bessent 1-4. Stephenville – Payton Poston 5-81, TD; Wyatt Kreutz 4-59, TD; Maruska 1-74, TD; Tristian Gentry 1-55, TD.

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KICKING – Brownwood – Junior Martinez 3 of 3 PATs.

5 punts, 219 yards, 43.8 average.

Canidae

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Jason Jackson (18) returned to the lineup and caught a 34-yard touchdown pass for Brownwood, which finished with 379 yards of total offense but could not overcome three turnovers. [Photo by Derrick Stuckly]

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