MIDLAND – Owning an average margin of victory of 44 points over the course of the five-game win streak they carried into Friday night’s Class 4A Division I Region I area playoff game, the No. 7 Brownwood Lions hadn’t received a stern test in more than a month.
But a 17-point halftime lead over the No. 16 Canyon Eagles dwindled to just a touchdown early in the fourth quarter before the Lions reclaimed the momentum and secured a spot in the third round of the playoffs with a 31-10 victory at Astound Broadband Stadium.
“Perseverance is huge and that comes from belief and hard work and knowing you can get the job done and not panic,” said Lions fifth-year head coach Sammy Burnett. “There may have been some panic there a little bit for some folks, but not really for us. We stayed firm, held our resolve and went out there and did what we had to do to make sure we took care of the ball game.”
A string of 10 straight Canyon (10-2) second-half points was capped by a 26-yard field goal from Elijah Smotherton with 11:17 left in the contest, trimming the Brownwood (10-2) advantage to 17-10.
And when the Lions needed a play most, Jordan Leach returned the ensuing kick 70 yards to the Canyon 20.
“I saw an opening, I took it and I got some good blocks up front,” Leach said.
Six plays later, on a fourth-and-goal at the Canyon 1, quarterback Ike Hall barreled into the end zone to push the Lions’ advantage to 24-10 with 8:24 remaining.
“I told them before the kickoff return Canyon could try something crazy and if they kick it deep retreat, get it, set up a return and take the momentum back – and I’ll be danged if he didn’t do it,” Burnett said. “That was the tipper in the second half, Jordan returning that ball after they kicked the field goal and getting us inside the 20 and allowing us to go in and score. That was huge.”
Canyon’s next drive stalled near midfield as a sack of quarterback Noah Sanchez by Sam Kallman pushed the Eagles behind the chains, where they failed to convert a fourth-and-15 from their own 46 with 5:54 to go.
“I didn’t think we has going to run, I thought he would pass it deep but I just saw him coming and I ran full speed to him,” Kallman said of the sack.
Brownwood then ventured 46 yards in seven plays before Konlyn Anderson put the finishing touches on the three-touchdown victory with a 6-yard scamper into the end zone with 2:29 remaining.
“We outscored them 14-10 in the second half and that was our goal because we already won the first half,” Burnett said.
The Lions were limited to just 40 offensive snaps but tallied 298 total yards – 227 on the ground and 71 rushing – behind the blocking of Slayde Espinoza, Damian Sanchez, Chris Robinson, Roan Aguinaga and Isaac Gray. Meanwhile, the Eagles ran 70 plays, including 40 on the ground for just 97 yards, along with 161 passing yards as three Canyon quarterbacks combined to finish 16 of 30 through the air with one interception.
“That’s what we wanted to do, take the run away and make them throw the football,” Burnett said. “We were a little soft in our coverage and that was on purpose honestly because we didn’t want to get beat over the top. There’s some things we can fix I know, some things I saw on technique and how we do what we do, but defense wins championships and we just held a team to 10 points that’s put a lot of points on people and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Hall finished with 108 yards and two touchdowns on the ground while completing 4 of 9 passes for 71 yards, with three tosses going to Thad Hinds for 69 yards. Anderson led the way on the ground with 114 yards and two trips to the end zone.
Defensively, Chance Jones tallied 13 tackles with two behind the line of scrimmage and an interception, and Sam Kallman finished with 13 tackles with one sack, followed by Jake Jetton with 11 tackles, Quinten McCarty 10 ttackles and one for loss, Brayden Daub with eight, Cole Miller and Davis Le with seven each, Jaylan Brown with six and a sack, Stevie Ramirez with six tackles, Jordyn Nickerson with four, Case Markham and Logan Knight with a pair apiece, and Morsello Hooker and Azariah Dillard with one tackle each.
“We knew they were going to come into the game and try and pound the rock cause that’s what they do,” said Jones. “Our game plan was to stop that and force them to throw and it worked out well for us.”
The Lions turned away a 17-play, 7:36 drive to start the game as Canyon shanked a 21-yard field goal attempt at the 4:24 mark. Brownwood then marched to the Canyon 15 where the drive stalled, but Junior Martinez booted a 32-yard field goal for the first points of the game and a 3-0 Brownwood lead at 11:55 of the second quarter.
The Eagles went three-and-out on their next drive and Case Markham returned a punt to the Canyon 33. Anderson then rushed for 32 yards on the first play and followed with a 1-yard plunge into the end zone on the next, staking the Lions to a 10-0 edge with 10 minutes left in the half.
Brownwood tacked on one more touchdown before the half ended as Hall escaped a potential sack and scrambled to the end zone, where he dove across the goal line for a 41-yard touchdown and 17-0 Lions’ edge with 1:36 left before intermission.
“It’s huge when you go into halftime with a lead, then you start focusing on the job at hand which is winning the second half,” Burnett said. “The first half is over, don’t rest on your laurels and go to the second half and win it. It may not have been as pretty as we wanted it to be, but it was a 14-10 second half and we’ll take that every time when you’re up 17 points.”
The Lions outgained Canyon 213-68 in total yards in the first half, but the momentum changed when the Eagles recovered an onside kick to start the second half and turned that into a 30-yard touchdown pass from Sanchez to Jacob Burris, trimming Brownwood’s lead to 17-7 just 89 seconds into the third period.
“It started with the onside kick,” Burnett said. “We knew it was coming, we worked it, we knew which direction they were going to kick it. We just didn’t step up and execute, and they were able to score off that.”
Canyon held on to the momentum until it was forced to kick a field goal at the end of a 67-yard, 13-play drive that stalled at the Brownwood 8.
After Leach’s kick return, the Lions tacked on 66 of their 85 second-half yards on the final two offensive possessions to ice the victory.
“The third quarter was a little slow but we fought through it and everything started clicking again in the fourth quarter,” Hall said.
The Lions, winners of six straight, will next face Wichita Falls (8-4) – a 31-7 winner over Big Spring Friday night – in the Class 4A Division Region I semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 25 at Abilene Christian University.
“It’s special for the kids, and you can’t talk it to them, they have to live this,” Burnett said. “Until you’ve played after Thanksgiving, you really don’t know how special that is. There’s a lot of people that’ll be in town celebrating with their families and they’ll migrate over to the game so we’ll have a bigger crowd and a greater environment. When you see the number of teams dwindle and you’re still a part of that it’s special. I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I can probably count on two hands how many times I’ve got to coach after Thanksgiving.”
The other 4A Division I Region I semifinal game next weekend will feature Decatur (9-3) – which ousted Andrews, 42-15, Friday – against Canyon Randall (9-3) – which eliminated Lubbock Estacado, 27-14, Friday.
***
Brownwood 31, Canyon 10
SCORE BY QUARTERS
| Brownwood | 0 | 17 | 0 | 14 | – 31 |
| Canyon | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 | – 10 |
***
SCORING SUMMARY
B: Junior Martinez 32 FG, 11:55, 2nd
B: Konlyn Anderson 1 run (Martinez kick), 10:00, 2nd
B: Ike Hall 41 run (Martinez kick), 1:36, 2nd
C: Jacob Burris 30 pass from Noah Sanchez (Elijah Smotherton kick), 10:31, 3rd
C: Smotherton 26 FG, 11:17, 4th
B: Hall 1 run (Martinez kick), 8:24, 4th
B: Anderson 6 run (Martinez kick), 2:29, 4th
***
| TEAM STATS | B | C |
| First Downs | 13 | 18 |
| Total Offense | 298 | 258 |
| Rushes-Yards | 31-227 | 40-97 |
| Passing Yards | 71 | 161 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 4-9-0 | 16-30-1 |
| Fumbles Lost | 1 | 0 |
| Punts-Average | 3-35.7 | 3-35.7 |
| Penalties-Yards | 7-56 | 2-10 |
***
PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: Brownwood – Konlyn Anderson 20-114, 2 TDs; Ike Hall 10-108, 2 TDs; Jordan Leach 1-5. Canyon – Sam Johnson 14-51; Javin Cash 11-36; Chris LaBue 6-19; Colt Cruth 5-6; Noah Sanchez 3-(-2); Team 1-(-13).
PASSING: Brownwood – Hall 4-9-0-71. Canyon – Sanchez 14-26-1-143, TD; Boston Bell 2-3-0-18; Cash 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING: Brownwood – Thad Hinds 3-69; Taylor Bessent 1-2. Canyon – Tripp Wright 4-43; Christian McGuire 3-35; Hunter Wilson 3-29; Jacob Burris 1-30, TD; Johnson 1-11; Brayden Wagner 1-6; Cruth 1-4; Caden Tucker 1-2; Hunter Cunningham 1-1.
***
KICKING – Brownwood – Junior Martinez 1 of 1 FG.
4 of 4 PATs.
3 punts, 107 yards, 35.7 average.
