MIDLAND – At halftime of their first road contest of the season, the Brownwood Lions owned a two- touchdown advantage, had not yielded a point and surrendered just one first down and 56 yards of total offense. By night’s end, however, the Lions had recorded their first tally in the loss column in 2021.
Following a season-opening 58-55 victory over Lampasas in which the Lions displayed their resiliency time and again, Brownwood was unable to get out of its own way in the second half of a 21-20 loss to the Midland Greenwood Rangers Friday night.
An exasperated Sammy Burnett, fourth-year head coach of the Lions, said after the contest, “We just stepped on our own feet. We’ve got some growing up to do. I still think we’re young and we’re immature. I don’t know how else to say it and that’s what I shared with the kids. To want to come out of the game because you feel a little tired to me doesn’t fly. I’m honest with our kids, I tell them the truth, I don’t lie to them, I don’t cover it up and I don’t sugarcoat it. I’m trying to make men and we weren’t men tonight. We lost 21-20, I tip my hat to Greenwood and what they did, but we put ourselves in that situation – all of us, coaches, players, players who didn’t get in the game – and that’s what I told the kids, bottom line, man-to-man.”
The Lions (1-1) committed both over their turnovers in the second half – the second of which resulted in the go-ahead touchdowns for Greenwood (1-1). Brownwood gave up 259 of Greenwood’s 315 total yards in the final two quarters, with 199 coming on the ground.
“To me, to be honest, it was attitude,” Burnett said regarding the difference between Brownwood’s first-half and second-half defensive performance. “We had kids wanting to tap and come out of the game and we’re depending on them and we just can’t do that. We have to dig deep inside our soul and see why we’re doing what we’re doing. They got on us, gave us a little adversity and we threw our hands down and took some shots to the face.”
Offensively, Brownwood produced 339 yards – 194 rushing and 145 passing – but never established the rhythm it possessed in the season opener, mostly due to 12 penalties for 112 yards. Eight of those flags and 77 of those yards came in the second half, while one penalty in the first half negated a 68-yard touchdown pass from Chance Jones to Jason Jackson.
“It was a different team that came out here tonight,” Burnett said of the offense. “We didn’t execute like we needed to offensively, busted assignments up front blocking wise, we dropped too many balls, we had too many penalties. You can say what you want but a penalty is a penalty and we were getting them and they were moving us back. I don’t know if there was a drive that we had where we didn’t have to overcome a penalty and we did not do that. Then we had a third and goal from the inch line and couldn’t get it in. We get inside the red zone in the second half with a chance to go up in the game and get two penalties and it turns into fourth and 20 and there’s not a play in a the playbook to overcome that.”
For all its inconsistency, Brownwood was the only offense to produce points in the first half.
On their third possession of the game, the Lions traveled 63 yards in nine plays as Konlyn Anderson – who rushed for a game-high 125 yards on 25 carries – scored on a 26-yard scamper to put Brownwood in front, 7-0, with 2:39 left in the first period.
The Lions’ next possession began at the Greenwood 38 following a fumble on a fair catch attempt after Brownwood was forced to punt. After setting up a first-and-goal at the 9, Jaylan Brown ran for 6 yards. Jones then barreled down to the Ranger 1. But on the next two snaps Brownwood was stuffed by Greenwood’s defense, and the scoring opportunity went awry.
Still, the defense did its part to keep Brownwood in front during the first half. The Lions did not allow a first down until the 1:22 mark of the second period, where Greenwood then continued its trek to midfield. There, facing a third-and-1 at the Brownwood 45 with 53 seconds left in the half, Greenwood quarterback Ty Flowers erroneously attempted to throw the ball away. Instead, the pigskin landed in the arms of Lion defensive end Cole Miller, who rumbled 42 yards to the end zone for a touchdown.
“Defensively, we’re still having problems being physical at times, but our defense played better in the first half and gave us opportunities,” Burnett said. ‘We had a pick six where we rushed the quarterback and made him scramble and picked it off and ran it in for a touchdown, so I tip my hat to them for that. But in the second half we couldn’t get off the field.”
The extra point attempt was botched, however, leaving Brownwood ahead 13-0 – a point that would prove costly at the end of the night.
Greenwood took the opening drive of the second half 80 yards in 14 plays, wrestling away the momentum from Brownwood as a 9-yard run by Flowers – who rushed for 113 yards and passed for 88 – brought the Rangers within 13-6.
The Lions, meanwhile, fumbled away the ball on their first possession of the second half, but Greenwood could not capitalize. Brownwood then capped its second drive of the third quarter with a 68-yard scoring toss from Jones – who completed 12 of 30 passes for 145 yards – to Elias Huerta-Doud – who grabbed four receptions for a team-high 84 yards.
With its lead at a game-high points, 20-6, with 3:44 left in third period, it seemed momentarily as if the Lions had righted the ship.
But Greenwood answered in just four plays as a 54-yard scamper by Flowers – and two-point run by Aaron Fikes – brought Greenwood within six points, 20-14, at the 2:11 mark of the third period.
The Lions then coughed up the ball on their very next play from scrimmage, which Greenwood pounced on at the Brownwood 21. On the next snap, Fikes – who finished with 114 yards on the ground – raced into the end zone and the extra point gave Greenwood a 21-20 edge with 1:48 left in the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Brownwood first reached the Greenwood 43 before having to punt – one of six boots on the night for the Lions.
The next Lion march began at the Greenwood 19 with just under eight minutes left after a 2-yard punt, the last of seven by the Rangers. But instead of capitalizing on the situation, Brownwood was flagged for both holding and unsportsmanlike conduct on the four-and-out possession, which concluded with an incomplete fourth-and-23 pass attempt from the Ranger 32.
With 6:57 left, Greenwood was able to burn the rest of the time off the clock, converting four first downs on its game-clinching 14-play drive. The Lions forced a fumble at their own 24 with just under two minutes remaining, but the ball was able to trickle over to the sideline and out of bounds before a Brownwood player could pounce on it
The Lions will attempt to bounce back next week at Class 4A Division II No. 6 China Spring (2-0), a 21-13 winner over Class 3A Division I No. 13 Lorena Friday night.
“We can make excuses, we can do whatever, but we better do some internal searching and figure out why we’re doing what we’re doing,” Burnett said. “If we don’t fix that then we can expect to have this feeling the rest of the season because the games don’t get any easier. We have to buy into each other and what we’re trying to sell. Coaches believing in coaches, coaches believing in players, players believing in players and players believing in coaches, and if you don’t have that you’re not going to be successful. You can make every excuse you want in life, or you can figure out what you’re doing wrong and try and fix it. That’s what we’re going to try and do this week.”
***
Greenwood 21, Brownwood 20
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Brownwood 7 6 7 0 – 20
Greenwood 0 0 21 0 – 21
SCORING SUMMARY
B: Konlyn Anderson 26 run (Junior Martinez kick), 2:39, 1st – 7-0
B: Cole Miller 42 interception return (kick failed), 0:53, 2nd – 13-0
G: Ty Flowers 9 run (kick failed), 7:13, 3rd, 13-6
B: Elias Huerta-Doud 68 pass from Chance Jones (Martinez kick), 3:44, 3rd – 20-6
G: Flowers 54 run (Aaron Fikes run), 2:11, 3rd – 20-14
G: Fikes 21 run (Rance Purser kick), 1:49, 3rd, – 20-21
TEAM STATS
Bwd MG
First Downs 16 14
Total Offense 339 315
Rushes-Yards 38-194 36-227
Passing Yards 145 88
Comp-Att-Int 12-30-0 10-24-1
Punts 6-34.3 7-29.5
Fumbles Lost 2 1
Penalties-Yards 12-112 4-35
PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: Brownwood – Konlyn Anderson 25-125, TD; Chance Jones 10-45; Jaylan Brown 3-24.Greenwood – Aaron Fikes 24-114, TD; Ty Flowers 12-113, 2 TDs.
PASSING: Brownwood – Jones 12-30-145, TD. Greenwood – Flowers 10-24-1-88.
RECEIVING: Brownwood – Elias Huerta-Doud 4-84, TD; Jason Jackson 4-41; Thad Hinds 3-14; Anderson 1-6. Greenwood – Caden Grubbs 6-54; Tatum Pierce 2-19; Cade Carrell 2-15.
