COLLEGE STATION – The focus for the Brownwood Lions now shifts to the Aug. 25 season opener at Abilene Wylie following an 0-4 performance during their 23rd consecutive appearance at the 7-on-7 Division II state tournament at Veterans Park and Athletic Complex.
On the heels of Thursday pool losses to Davenport (33-21), Hitchcock (27-2) and Sunnyvale (35-21), the Lions dropped their only game in the 32-team, single-elimination state championship bracket to Celina, 21-6, Friday morning.
“One thing we gained from this tournament is we have to learn how to face adversity and face it as a team, and we will,” said Lions head coach Sammy Burnett, who observed the four tournament contests. “I don’t care about what happened here as far as the results of games, what I care about is how we face adversity and draw together as a team, and we didn’t do that this weekend.”
Asked if the results in College Station affect his opinion on where the team stands just over a month away from the start of two-a-days, Burnett said, “Absolutely not. Sometimes you peel back the skin and you find a bunch of warts, and we found that. What we have to learn and go through and as a coaching staff educate our kids and get them to understand is when we’re facing adversity we draw on each other and lean on each other and we get close to each other. We don’t bicker, we don’t fight, and lose our poise. We find a way to fix it, and that’s our job that we’ll work on between now and the start of the season.”
In four tournament the games the Lions – who were riding a seven-game win streak in 7-on-7 qualifying action – scored on just 7 of 23 offensive possessions (30 percent) while the defense yielded touchdowns on 17 of 24 (71 percent) of the opposing drives.
Quarterback Ike Hall connected on 56 of 95 passes (59 percent) with seven touchdowns, four interceptions and nine four-second calls – the equivalent of a sack in 7-on-7. Leading receivers included Morsello Hooker (15 catches, 2 TDs), Carson Noe (11 catches, 2 TDs), Jaylan Brown (11 catches), Aaron Edmonds (7 catches, 2 TDs), Stone Ratliff (5 catches), Jordyn Nickson (4 catches, 1 TD), and Logan McKibben (3 catches).
Defensively, Nickerson tallied the only two interceptions – both against Hitchcock – as one came on the final play of the first half and the second accounted for the only points on a foiled extra-point attempt.
Against Celina Friday morning, the Lions yielded a touchdown on the opening possession but answered with their only trip to the end zone. A 10-play drive culminated with a scoring toss from Hall to Edmonds, but the extra point pass was not converted as the Lions trailed 7-6.
Celina scored again before the first half ended, and Brownwood was limited to one play on its final possession as the Lions trailed 14-6 at the break.
Celina started the second half with the ball and pushed its lead to 21-6, while Brownwood marched for seven plays before an interception in the end zone halted a scoring effort.
Neither team scored on its final possession, as Celina milked the clock resulting in the Lions snapping the ball just twice.
“We came this morning ready to play and started off pretty well,” Burnett said. “We played pretty decent, but incompletions and four-second calls cost us.”
As for what takes place between now and the start of two-a-days on Monday, July 31, Burnett said, “We continue to grind, work hard and focus on the mental part, the attitude part, and the trust part. Our kids work extremely hard, they always have and they’ll continue to do that. They just have to learn how to play together as team. We’re going to find the best 11 guys on offense and defense that play together as a team, I didn’t say the best athletes, but the ones that play the best together. That’s our job and what we’ll do.”
