In their pursuit of the program’s first district championship in a dozen years, the No. 10 Brownwood Lions cleared their initial obstacle Friday night with a 41-10 homecoming victory over the Big Spring Steers in the 2-4A Division I opener at Gordon Wood Stadium.
“We said if we could score 40 or hold them to 10, either way, we could be successful and we did both,” said Lions fifth-year head coach Sammy Burnett. “I’m so proud of our kids.”
Playing short-handed as multiple players missed the game due to a violation of team rules, Chance Jones – the leading tackler for the Brownwood (5-2, 1-0) defense in 2022 – was again thrust into the role of starting quarterback, where he spent the bulk of the 2021 campaign.
Jones – behind an offensive front of Isaac Gray, Slayde Espinoza, Roan Aguinaga, Damian Sanchez and Chris Robinson – completed 10 of 16 passes for 213 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions, while Konlyn Anderson churned out 196 rushing yards with three trips to the end zone as the Lions finished with 442 total yards.
“You have to admire Chance’s heart to play both ways and carry his team to victory when we needed him badly,” Burnett said. “Offensively, we moved the ball like we wanted. If our kids did not believe in Chance and what he would be able to do, we wouldn’t be where we are. Konlyn also had a really good night and being able to mix it up with our receivers was huge. Jason Jackson had a big night, Jordan Leach made a big play and when Thad Hinds got in the game in the second half he was dominant like he’s been all year.”
Jones added, “It was pretty exhausting because usually when we get a stop on defense it’s time to celebrate. But I had to stay on the field and I had a lot to think about so I didn’t have time to think about how tired I was.”
Defensively, the Lions did yield 407 yards – including 333 through the air to a pass happy Big Spring (4-3, 0-1) offense that tossed the ball 53 times – but also created five turnovers, with four coming on interceptions, to thwart most of the Steer scoring threats. Big Spring – which produced points on just two of seven trips into the red zone Friday – was held 18 points below its season average and 10 points below its previous low output of the season, which came in Week 1.
“There were times we put ourselves in binds defensively and didn’t get off the field like we should have, but we had a bend but don’t break mentality and we came up with some big plays in the red zone to keep them out of the end zone and that was huge,” Burnett said.
The Lions’ first takeaway occurred on a promising first drive for Big Spring, and set up Brownwood’s first trip to the end zone as the Lions never trailed.
Big Spring quarterback Gavin Padron, who completed 35 of 53 passes for 333 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions, was intercepted for the first time by Sam Kallman on a fourth-and-5 from the Brownwood 15. The Lions responded with a five-play, 63-yard trek that culminated with a 6-yard touchdown run by Anderson for a 7-0 lead, after Junior Martinez’s PAT, at the 6:53 juncture of the first period.
The Steers’ next drive stalled at the Lion 16, where Eli Cobos booted a 33-yard field goal to put Big Spring on the board, 7-3, with 2:44 left in the opening stanza.
The teams traded punts on their next possessions, then the Lions took over at their 41 and journeyed 59 yards in five plays, scoring on a fourth-and-11, 28-yard fade pattern from Jones to Jackson, who finished with five grabs for 114 yards and a pair of scores.
Leading 14-3, the Lions’ final scoring drive of the first half was set up by a Case Markham interception that was deflected to him by Jones. A 44-yard march ensued, taking just five plays before Anderson barreled in the end zone again from 4 yards out to boost the advantage to 21-3 at the 5:27 mark of the second period.
The Lions started the second half with the ball and required just three plays before Jones and Jackson connected again on a 23-yard scoring toss that boosted Brownwood’s advantage to 27-3 just 62 seconds into the third quarter.
Big Spring advanced to Brownwood’s 2 on its first drive of the second half before fumbling away the pigskin, which Jake Jetton recovered. The Lions then ventured 98 yards in eight plays – aided by a 35-yard completion to Leach and a 39-yard scamper by Anderson – as Jones connected with Hinds, who had to sit out the first half due to being ejected against Stephenville, on a 7-yard scoring toss.
“It was the Jekyll and Hyde mentality because we got five turnovers and that’s the bend but don’t break mentality, but we gave them chances to move the chains and get in the red zone,” Burnett said.
Trailing by 31, the Steers closed the gap to 34-10 when Padron found running back Kavien Ford on a wheel route for a 17-yard scoring toss at 9:02 mark of the fourth quarter.
Three plays was all that was required for the Lions to score again, as a 33-yard hook up from Jones to Hinds set up Anderson’s 21-yard jaunt to the end zone with 7:27 left in the contest.
“The O-line was just killing them the whole game,” Anderson said. “They gave me big holes and just let me do what I do.”
Big Spring’s final two drives of the contest reached the Lion 10 and 34, but both possessions ended at the hands of Morsello Hooker, who recorded back-to-back interceptions.
“The defense did pretty good,” Hooker said. “The secondary made a couple of mistakes but bounced back. We just have to clean up some minor mistakes and we’ll be good. Every time you mess up on a play you just try and bounce back. That’s all there is to it.”
Jetton led the Lions with 14 tackles, including one for loss, followed by Kallman with 13; Markham with 11; Jones with 10; Quinten McCarty and Trent Loftin with seven each; Stevie Ramirez and Hayden Noe with six apiece; Logan Knight with five; Hooker and Noah Barron with four apiece; Hayden Deen, Jordyn Nickerson, and Azariah Dillard with three each; Leach with two; and Daub, McKibben, Cole Miller, Bryan Osbourn, Isaiah Rodriguez and Junior Martinez with one each.
Next week, the Lions will visit San Angelo Lake View (3-4, 0-1) – which is coming off a 33-0 loss to Andrews (5-2, 1-0) – in a rare 7 p.m. Thursday encounter.
“We’ll get back to work Saturday and Sunday as coaches and have a game plan ready for Monday,” Burnett said of the preparation needed on a short week. “We have to be really focused Monday and Tuesday to make sure we have everything right that we need to because we don’t have that extra day that we normally do.”
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Lions 41, Big Spring 10
SCORE BY QUARTERS
| Big Spring | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | -10 |
| Brownwood | 7 | 14 | 13 | 7 | -41 |
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SCORING SUMMARY
Bwd: Konlyn Anderson 6 run (Junior Martinez kick), 9:53, 1st
BS: Eli Cobos 33 FG, 2:44, 1st
Bwd: Jason Jackson 28 pass from Chance Jones (Martinez kick), 7:47, 2nd
Bwd: Anderson 4 run (Martinez kick), 5:27, 2nd
Bwd: Jackson 23 pass from Jones (Martinez kick), 10:58, 3rd
Bwd: Thad Hinds 7 pass from Jones (kick failed), 3:16, 3rd
BS: Kavien Ford 17 pass from Gavin Padron (Cobos kick), 9:02, 4th
Bwd: Anderson 21 run (Martinez kick), 7:27, 4th
***
| TEAM STATS | BS | Bwd |
| First Downs | 19 | 22 |
| Total Offense | 407 | 442 |
| Rushes-Yards | 14-74 | 33-229 |
| Passing Yards | 333 | 213 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 35-53-4 | 10-16-2 |
| Penalties-Yards | 9-80 | 7-70 |
| Fumbles Lost | 1 | 0 |
| Punts-Average | 1-33.0 | 2-48.5 |
***
PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: Big Spring – Kavien Ford 13-61; Leroy Johnson 8-32; Phillip Martinez 1-4; Gavin Padron 3-(-1); Zeyire Franklin 1-(-4); Team 1-(-18). Brownwood – Konlyn Anderson 25-196, 3 TDs; Chance Jones 3-17; Logan McKibben 4-14; Case Markham 1-2.
PASSING: Big Spring – Padron 35-53-4-333, TD. Brownwood – Jones 10-16-2-213, 3 TDs.
RECEIVING: Big Spring – Eli Cobos 10-141; Franklin 9-41; Ford 6-49, TD; Keyshaun Woodruff 3-28; Derick Walleck 2-35; Zabian Urias 1-17; Donavyn Hilario 1-12; Jose Munoz 1-6; Ricky Escovedo 1-4; Jacob Cantu 1-0. Brownwood – Jason Jackson 5-114, 2 TDs; Thad Hinds 3-58, TD; Jordan Leach 1-35; Brayden Daub 1-6.
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KICKING – Brownwood – Junior Martinez 5 of 6 PATs.
2 punts, 97 yards, 48.5 average.
