GODLEY – Early in the season head coaches are adamant about seeing their teams improve from week to week, and the Brownwood Lions delivered for Sammy Burnett in Thursday’s final scrimmage of the preseason against the Godley Wildcats.
After being outscored two touchdowns to one in the controlled portion of the scrimmage – with each starting offense finding the end zone once – the Lions overcame a pair of turnovers on their first two possession and a touchdown deficit to outscore Godley, 21-7, in a live half of action.
“All in all it was a way better scrimmage than last week,” said Burnett, who is in his fourth season guiding his alma mater. “Our defense grew through the scrimmage.”
A week ago against Salado, the Lions yielded 524 total yards on 47 snaps to Salado’s slot-T offense, which Brownwood did not scheme. After some bumps in the road early against Godley Thursday, the Lions cranked up the pressure and began to counter the Wildcats’ offensive play-calling when the live half began.
Defensively, after giving up a 28-yard touchdown on a screen pass on Godley’s second possession, Brownwood yielded just 60 yards the rest of the half. The Lions also forced a pair of Wildcat punts while Zaiden Lopez and Quinten McCarty teamed up for one sack and Azariah Dillard added another. Godley – a 7-5 playoff team a year ago in Class 4A Division II with four offensive and seven defensive starters back – mustered 88 yards on 26 snaps, just 3.4 yards per play.
“We started playing better and started playing as a team,” Burnett said of the defensive effort. “They threw a 1-yard pass play behind the line of scrimmage and we didn’t really run to ball like we needed to, we didn’t have the sense of urgency that we needed to. We were waiting for someone to make a play and they wind up turning it into a touchdown. Then later in the live scrimmage, they do that again and we have eight hats running to the ball and that’s what we’re talking about, finding the football. It’s good that we can learn those lessons now.”
On the offensive end for the Lions, behind a front comprised of Damian Sanchez, Alex Reyna, Ethan Pesina, Brandon Still and Slayde Espinoza, Brownwood produced 258 yards – 137 rushing and 122 passing – on 18 snaps, an average of 14.3 yards per play.
Konlyn Anderson rushed for 135 yards on nine carries and scored on a 40-yard gallop. Quarterback Chance Jones connected on 4 of 6 passes for 121 yards with a 78-yard scoring strike to Jason Jackson. Jones also rushed for a 3-yard touchdown. Elias Huerta-Doud led the Lions with two grabs totaling 45 yards.
Trailing 7-0 after one quarter, Anderson broke free for a 40-yard score on the first snap of the second period, as the Lions gradually began to wear down Godley with their up tempo attack.
“That’s our goal,” Burnett said. “We still want to go a little quicker. They set the ball in the live half a lot slower than we set it in practice. But as soon as that ball was set we were ready to go. They were trying to sub and sprint kids on and off the field and we’re going to get some penalties out of that. But what it does is, if we can stay in ball games early and we can sustain drives, maybe we don’t put as many points on the board early in the game, not that we don’t want to, but it’s going to wind up wearing the opponent down so late in the third and fourth quarters we can start dominating and pounding the football.”
The scrimmage was far from flawless for the Lions, however, especially the controlled portion. Brownwood gave up a 24-yard touchdown pass and another 33-yard gain through the air, while a 65-yard sprint set up a 5-yard scoring toss.
Offensively, the Lions first-team scored on a 1-yard run by Anderson, which was set up by a 42-yard catch and run by Huerta-Doud. But the second-team’s attempt to score stalled at the Godley 9.
“We started off slow and I addressed that,” Burnett said. “It doesn’t matter if we start on offense or defense, whatever series we’re in we have to start faster. We were on defense and started slow, giving up little bitty gains that turned into big plays because we weren’t playing fast enough. We busted some tackles and yards after contact hurt us so we’re going to work on some tackling drill to make sure we solidify that a little more.”
Assessing the offense, Burnett added, “We did some good things. I thought our offensive line did a good job, they had some different fronts and brought some heat to us and I thought they did a good job. Chance worked the pocket well, at times he held the ball too long and he has to trust his guys and throw them open. But he did make a great play with Jason Jackson. We got down in the red zone early and fumbled again. It came off a timeout and I told Konlyn to protect the ball but he put it on the ground. But it was a great opportunity to learn that lesson now, you have to secure the ball, and the next time Konlyn touches it he takes it to the house, so that was a great bounce back there.”
Further referring the team growth he witnessed Thursday night, Burnett spoke of the performance of Jordan Leach.
“Jordan Leach was on the sideline for some disciplinary action and I told him he had to be a positive guy and lead for his team and be selfless,” Burnett said. “We gave him his chance, he goes in and makes a dynamic play from the start. The next play he jumps on the tight end and they have no play and we wind up getting a sack from it. Him having the desire to go out there and serve his teammates and not himself, he grew in that area. If we’re continuing to do those kind of things and bonding we’ll be fine.”
With the season opener against the Lampasas Badgers next on the slate at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 27 at Gordon Wood Stadium, Burnett believes the Lions administered their own confidence booster – with Jackson’s 78-yard touchdown being the final offensive play and Dillard’s sack ending the action –- as the scrimmage concluded with Godley.
“This makes them more coachable and they’re going to be more willing to listen to us,” Burnett said. “We’re going to be able to coach them harder now in practice to get them prepared for what we think is a good Lampasas football team. It’s going to be a dogfight and we’re going to have to win the battle of attrition and win it late in the game. We have to stay close early and finish late and if we continue to grow and bond, and the kids mature mentally, we’re there physically, but if we mature mentally I think we can be successful.”
