COLLEGE STATION – The offensive momentum the Brownwood Lions seemed to establish in their final pool play game at the 7-on-7 Division II state tournament didn’t carry over to Friday’s bracket play. In the first round of 32-team championship bracket play, the Lions were bounced by Lago Vista, 13-6, at Veterans Park and Athletic Complex.
“We slept too long or something, we didn’t show up,” said Lions head football coach Sammy Burnett, who observed Friday’s contest. “Defensively, we held them to 13 points and played really well. Offensively, we didn’t throw the ball well, we didn’t catch the ball well. We had many opportunities to score and didn’t take advantage of it. We got in the red zone three times and didn’t score and that’s on us. It’s a simple game. You have to throw and catch, move the chains and score points and we didn’t do it today.”
The Lions scored on just one of six possessions Friday, despite advancing into goal-to-go territory on three occasions. Brownwood scored on 9 of 18 drives Thursday.
Brownwood also started slow in pool play by reaching the end zone once in seven marches in a 24-7 loss to Anna. The Lions then scored the last three touchdowns to upend Smithville, 26-13, and almost rallied past pool champion Silsbee in a 32-27 setback to settle for third place.
Against Lago Vista, Brownwood quarterback Ike Hall completed just 12 of 30 attempts – a 40 percent success rate – with one touchdown and four four-second calls, two of which negated scoring tosses. The Lions receiving corps also dropped a handful of passes, as the air attack sputtered in all aspects at times.
Jordan Leach led the Lions with five grabs followed by two each from Jordyn Nickerson, Jason Jackson, and Case Markham – who hauled in the lone touchdown – and one catch by Jake Jetton.
In four tournament games, Hall connected on 51 of 95 passes – 54 percent – with 10 touchdowns, one interception and 17 four-second calls. Leading receivers were Markham (18 catches, 5 TDs), Jackson (7 catches, 1 TD), Leach (6 catches), Thad Hinds (5 catches, 2 TDs), Nickerson (4 catches), Konlyn Anderson (4 catches), Morsello Hooker (3 catches, 2 TDs), Brayden Daub (2 catches), and Jake Jetton (2 catches).
The Lions reached the end zone on 10 of 24 possessions overall – 42 percent – with one turnover in four state tournament games.
Defensively, the Lions allowed touchdowns on just two of six drives against Lago Vista – 33 percent – opposed to the 56 percent of possessions opponents scored on Thursday.
During their four games at state, Brownwood surrendered touchdowns on 12 of 24 possessions – 50 percent – after giving up scores on 29 percent of the opponents’ drives in 12 state qualifying games. The Lions did force a pair of turnovers – interceptions by Noah Barron and Jaylan Brown, and recorded a safety.
Regarding the overall development from the Lions during the 7-on-7 campaign, Burnett said, “I saw a lot of growth in our quarterback and we saw a lot of kids that will help us that we didn’t really know about. We grew as a defense and we’re really sound there in understanding what we’re doing scheme-wise. Offensively, we had some growing to do because we have people in different positions. We had moments with bright spots and moments with down spots, but that’s 7-on-7.”
The Lions, who made their 22nd straight state appearance, posted a 7-9 record in 16 games this summer, scoring on 41 of 102 drives – 40 percent – as Hall completed 228 of 398 passes – 57 percent – with 41 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and 63 four-second calls.
Through the air, top receivers were Jackson (66 catches, 11 TDs), Markham (51 catches, 11 TDs), Anderson (34 catches, 4 TDs), Leach (29 catches, 1 TD), Daub (14 catches, 2 TDs), Hinds (12 catches, 5 TDs), Jetton (9 catches, 1 TD), Nickerson (7 catches, 1 TD), Hooker (5 catches, 3 TDs), Brown (2 catches), and Hayden Noe (2 catch).
Defensively, the Lions yielded touchdowns on 34 of 100 drives – a 34 percent – with 12 interceptions and two safeties in 16 outings. Barron picked off five passes, Jetton and Colton McMillan added a pair of interceptions, and Hooker, Brown and Chance Jones recorded one apiece.
Looking ahead to what the Lions will do between now and the start of preseason practice on Aug. 1, Burnett said, “We’re going to continue to do our strength and conditioning, we’re going to continue to do our football skills and work on getting stronger. We’ll also go to the classroom every other day and continue to teach our kids the system and give them as much knowledge as we can in their heads before August.”
