MARBLE FALLS – The Brownwood Lions for a week had lived with the regret of letting a season-opening victory over Class 5A Division II Abilene Wylie slip through their fingers. In Friday’s first road outing of the season, however, the Lions left no room for doubt as they devoured the Class 4A Division I No. 17 Marble Falls Mustangs by a 55-16 count – Brownwood’s largest margin of victory since a 61-14 bi-district playoff win over Fort Worth Castleberry on Nov. 15, 2019.

The Lions (1-1) dominated all three phases of the game, doubling up Marble Falls (1-1) – which was coming off a 52-7 triumph over 5A Division II Pflugerville Connally – in total yardage, 402-201, as most of the Panthers’ yards came when the game was out of reach. Brownwood, which never punted and scored on eight of nine possessions, raced out to a 24-0 lead with 5:48 left in the first half, and at that point had outgained Marble Falls, 226-38, in total yards.

“We know we should be 2-0 right now and that bad taste was in our mouths and the only way to get it out was to go out tonight and win against a very good team that’s ranked pretty high,” Burnett said. “I couldn’t be prouder of the kids. We won all three phases of the game and were dominant from start to finish.”

Behind the offensive front of Chris Robinson, Roan Aguinaga, Damian Sanchez, Isaac Gray and Slayde Espinoza, quarterback Ike Hall completed 9 of 13 passes for 189 yards and rushed for a team-high 79 yards and a touchdown. Konlyn Anderson chipped in 69 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries, Logan McKibben finished 47 yards rushing and two trips to the end zone, and Case Markham tacked on 18 yards on two carries.

Leading receivers were Thad Hinds with three grabs for 77 yards, Jordan Leach with three catches for 47 yards, Brayden Daub with two receptions for 31 yards, and Jason Jackson pulled down a 34-yard pass on the first snap of the game.

“I told them we’re going to score every time,” Burnett said. “I don’t care if it’s a touchdown or a field goal, but every time we go on the field offensively, we’re going to get some points out of that. Other than a fumble, we did that every time. That’s a goal and a tough goal.”

The one possession where Brownwood didn’t score, the Lions coughed up the ball on a fumble at their own 48. But the Lions defense returned the favor, jarring the ball free from Marble Falls on a fourth-and-short play at the Brownwood 26 as Jake Jetton picked up the fumble and sprinted 74 yards to the end zone.

“We challenged them and told them they had to be physical and own the line of scrimmage,” Burnett said of the defense. “I told them it didn’t matter where the ball is you play the next play. A great example of that is on fourth and inches we get penetration and make the quarterback fumble the ball and scooped and scored for a touchdown and that was a great momentum change. But that’s all about the mentality.”

Jetton said of his fumble recovery, which gave Brownwood a 41-8 edge with 1:50 left in the third period, “I came off the edge, I was running my assignment and Cole Miller punched the ball out and I looked down, saw the ball and scooped it up. I almost got tackled, a guy grabbed my jersey and pulled me back, but I just picked it up and ran as fast as I possibly could to get in that end zone. I knew I had big shoes to fill after Dryden Anderson tore up his knee.”

Leading tacklers for Brownwood were Chance Jones with 15; Quinten McCarty with 11 tackles including four behind the line of scrimmage; Sam Kallman with nine; Stevie Ramirez with seven and one sack; Jetton, Azariah Dillard and Hayden Deen with six apiece; Trent Loftin with four and one sack; Colton McMillian with four; Jaylan Brown with three and a tackle for loss; McKibben, Cole Miller and Xavier Zepada with three apiece; Markham and Hayden Noe with two each; Davis Le, Noah Barron and Tristan Salinas with one each; and Morsello Hooker notched a tackle for loss.

The Lions were almost flawless in the special teams game as well. Along with no punts, Junior Martinez booted field goals of 22 and 37 yards and converted all seven extra-point attempts.

“For us to get protection, a good snap, a good hold, and a good kick, I thought they did a great job all night,” Burnett said. “There is never a doubt in my mind when we get inside the 30 that Junior’s got a chance unless there’s a strong wind. Junior kicked well, and we covered kicks well. I was really pleased with the special teams. It’s an important part of the game and the kids are understanding that.”

Martinez’s second field goal was crucial, a season-best 37-yarder with two seconds left in the first half that staked the Lions to a three-possession edge, 27-8, with the Mustangs taking possession to start the second half. Marble Falls twice called time out before Martinez converted the kick.

“With Chris snapping and Case holding everything’s locked in at that point and every kick’s the same,” Martinez said. “No matter how many times they’re going to try and ice me, everything stays the same. I just have to keep my cool.”

Martinez also split the uprights on the game’s first possession as Brownwood marched 62 yards in eight plays before a 22-yard field goal gave the Lions a 3-0 lead just 3:01 into the contest.

Marble Falls managed just one first down on its initial possession before punting the ball to Brownwood. Taking over the Mustang 45, the Lions needed just five plays to reach the end zone as Hall kept the ball on a zone read and scampered 22 yards to the end zone for a 10-0 Brownwood cushion with 3:48 left in the opening stanza.

“We came out ready to play,” Hall said. “Last week we didn’t come out ready to play and we saw what happened there. Tonight, the O-line did great. I saw some big holes and I took them. It was great.”

A three-and-out on the next Marble Falls possession set the Lions up at their own 30 to start their third drive. Highlighted by a 26-yard toss from Hall to Hinds, Brownwood capped the seven-play trek with a 4-yard Anderson touchdown run to boost the advantage to 17-0 with 90 seconds remaining the first period.

Marble Falls unsuccessfully attempted a fake punt following its next drive, and the Lions took over at the Mustang 47. Another connection from Hall to Hinds, this time for 45 yards, set the stage for a 1-yard dive by Anderson and a 24-0 lead.

“We went over all the plays in practice that we needed to cover to be ready for them,” Hall said. “They like to play cover 3 so we ran a lot of screens and worked on our blocking, and it looked pretty good today.”

The Mustangs lit up the scoreboard with 1:56 left in the first half on a fourth-down 1-yard touchdown run by Jasael Ruiz, and Jaime Castillo added the two-point try to trim the deficit to 24-8.

An onside kick attempt by Marble Falls followed and went out of bounds near midfield. That miscue allowed the Lions to march 30 yards and set up a field goal and a 19-point halftime advantage.

“We went into halftime with the lead and the mentality stayed the same, we had to go win the second half and we did,” Burnett said. “That gave us the opportunity to put some other guys in. I don’t like to call them our 2s, they’re our next men up, and boy did they do a great job.”

Marble Falls went three-and-out on its first possession of the second half, while Hall connected with Leach for 37 yards on Brownwood’s initial snap down to the Mustang 35. Six plays later, Anderson again found the end zone from 3 yards out for a 34-8 cushion with a 6:31 left in the third period.

After the Brownwood defense got into the scoring action, McKibben rumbled into the end zone twice for the Lions in the fourth period, on carries of 11 and 3 yards, to stretch the lead to 55-8 with 6:58 remaining.

Marble Falls’ final drive accounted for 70 of its 201 yards as another fake punt attempt, this time successful, kept the drive alive near midfield as the Mustangs chewed 4:58 off the clock before scoring for the second time in the contest, and reducing the final margin to 39 points.

“We really feel like we should be 2-0 and we’re not and there is something to learn from that,” Burnett said. “The kids learned it, they kept fighting and working hard in practice. They knew they had a tough opponent and made them look bad tonight.”

Next week, the Lions venture to Burnet (1-1) to face the Bulldogs, who fell to Llano, 29-21, Friday night.

“Burnet is a very well-coached team,” Burnett said. “The Jones kid, which is Coach (David) Jones’ nephew, is a solid receiver and they depend on him a lot. Their quarterback throws the ball extremely well, so we’re going to have to be sound defensively, make tackles and be aggressive. Offensively we have to pound the rock and set up the pass.”

***

Lions 55, Marble Falls 16

SCORE BY QUARTERS

SCORING SUMMARY

B: Junior Martinez 22 FG, 8:59, 1st

B: Ike Hall 22 run (Martinez kick), 3:48, 1st

B: Konlyn Anderson 4 run (Martinez kick), 1:30, 1st

B: Anderson 1 run (Martinez kick), 5:48, 2nd

M: Jasael Ruiz 1 run (Jamie Castillo), 1:56, 2nd

B: Martinez 37 FG, 0:02, 2nd

B: Anderson 3 run (Martinez kick), 6:31, 3rd

B: Jake Jetton 74 fumble return (Martinez kick), 1:50, 3rd

B: Logan McKibben 11 run (Martinez kick), 10:51. 4th

B: McKibben 3 run (Martinez kick), 6:58, 4th

M: Hayden Miller 6 run (Miller run), 2:00, 4th

***

***
PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: Brownwood – Ike Hall 11-79, TD; Konlyn Anderson 16-69, 3 TDs; Logan McKibben 6-47, 2 TDs; Case Markham 2-18. Marble Falls – Jasael Ruiz 21-106, TD; Caleb Vidal 13-63; Dominic Fierro 5-23; Josh Deberard 1-12; Hayden Miller 2-5, TD; Jamie Castillo 3-3; Bram Bowen 3-0; Kody Smith 1-(-1).

PASSING: Brownwood – Hall 9-13-0-189. Marble Falls – Smith 1-3-0-(-5); Castillo 0-1-0-0; Miller 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING: Brownwood – Thad Hinds 3-77; Jordan Leach 3-47; Brayden Daub 2-31; Jason Jackson 1-34. Marble Falls – Vidal 1-(-5).

###

KICKING – Brownwood – Junior Martinez 2 of 2 FGs: Made 22, 37. 7 of 7 PATs. No punts.

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