“This game means nothing to what our future may be unless we don’t learn from it.”
Those were the words of Brownwood Lions sixth-year head coach Sammy Burnett following the 83rd playing of the Battle of 377 Friday night at Gordon Wood Stadium as, for the fourth consecutive year, the Stephenville Yellow Jackets prevailed, 27-17.
In a Class 4A Division I Top 10 clash for the second consecutive season, No. 9 Stephenville (4-2), which matched its longest week win streak in series history Friday night and has won six of the last seven meetings overall, shut down the vaunted offense of No. 9 Brownwood (5-1) and came up with clutch plays when they were needed most.
“You’re looking at a big game like this with two talented teams and it’s always going to be who makes the plays and who doesn’t – and they made three big plays,” said Lions sixth-year head coach Sammy Burnett. “We have to learn why this happened, what went wrong and fix that. If we learn from our mistakes and grow and move on, this will make us better as team.”
Knotted at 14 late in the second quarter shortly after Stephenville lost starting quarterback Ryan Gafford to an arm injury, the biggest momentum swing of the first half took place.
Junior Martinez, who finished with six punts for a 34.8 average with three pinned inside the Stephenville 20, had what would have been his seventh punt blocked at the Brownwood 14 on a fourth-and-21 with 4:05 left in the first half.
Despite starting at the Brownwood 13, the Yellow Jackets lost 4 yards and settled for a 34-yard field goal from Diego Chavarria with 3:03 left before halftime, but the 17-14 lead marked the first for Stephenville in the contest.
The touchdown in which Stephenville drew even at 14 was also the result of a Brownwood miscue as Yellow Jacket Hyson Foreman picked off an Ike Hall pass and a third-and-9 at the Lion 41 and returned to the ball to Brownwood’s 42.
Ten plays later, one snap after Gafford was injured, Bryson Powell plunged into the end zone from 2 yards out to draw Stephenville even at 14 with 5:46 remaining before halftime.
“The blocked punt was just our fault, then we threw an interception and they got points off that. That’s how they got 10 the first half,” Burnett said. “We have take to ownership and the thing about it is we learn from it, we grow from it and move on.”
Stephenville maintained its 17-14 lead through the third period as the Lions turned away a chance for the Yellow Jackets to add more points as a poor snap on a 29-yard field goal attempt instead resulted in a tackle for loss at the Brownwood 20 with 2:29 left in the third period.
Pinned inside their own 10 late in the third quarter, the Yellow Jackets eventually punted from their own 3 and Brownwood took over at the Stephenville 34. The Lions mustered just 4 yards on the drive, but Martinez came on to convert his sixth field goal of the season – a 47-yarder – that pulled Brownwood even at 17 with 10:03 left in the game.
The Lions then held Stephenville to a three-and-out, but a 47-yard punt flipped the field and pushed Brownwood back to its 20. The Lions then sent the ball back to the Yellow Jackets on a punt after three snaps and Stephenville took over at its 35 with just over six minutes left.
There, the Yellow Jackets struck in one play as back-up quarterback Hudson Butchee flipped a bubble screen out to Texas Tech commit Tristian Gentry, who broke a couple of tackles and then sprinted 65 yards to the end zone to push Stephenville in front, 24-17, with 5:53 to go.
“He’s explosive and he does that to everybody,” Burnett said. “The thing is, it’s not like we’re not in position, we know what they’re going to run and then we don’t make tackles. We’re just not finishing the play and making tackles and that’s on us.”
Brownwood’s ensuing drive resulted in another three-and-out with 4:15 to go, and Stephenville’s leading rusher Tate Maruska then ran the ball for the first time all night and churned out 63 yards on five carries to set up a game-clinching 39-yard field goal by Chavarria with 2:01 left, as the Yellow Jackets opened a 27-17 cushion.
“We have to find a way to win instead of finding a way to lose and I felt like tonight we found a way to lose,” Burnett said. “That’s not a knock on our kids, I love them, they played hard and I’m so proud of them, we just have to find a way to finish plays.”
While Brownwood allowed just 304 total yards – 153 on the ground and 151 through the air – the Lions mustered only 243 yards of total offense – 172 passing and a mere 71 rushing – and turned the ball over twice, without creating a takeaway.
Brownwood scored both of its touchdowns in the first quarter, where the Lions amassed 137 total yards. Over the final three periods, Brownwood generated just 106 yards and three points. The Lions produced 21 fewer points and 150 fewer total yards then their season averages.
“They beat us up front and good teams expose your weaknesses,” Burnett said. “You peel the skin back and reveal the warts and we got some warts revealed. Where do we fix that? We fix it in practice. You have a sense of urgency in what you’re doing and grind in practice and try and become the best person you can be. We have to take care of the warts, and we can do that.”
Brownwood grabbed a 7-0 lead on its first possession as Hall – who completed 12 of 23 passes for 172 yards and rushed for a team-high 44 yards – connected with Aaron Edmonds on a 35-yard toss to the end zone at 8:01 of the first period, capping an eight-play, 55-yard drive.
Stephenville pulled even at 7 with 3:13 left in the first period as Gafford scrambled into the end zone from 19 yards out on a fourth-and-5.
The Lions immediately responded on what was their third drive of the contest, covering 70 yards in six plays, as Carson Noe – who led Brownwood with five grabs for 97 yards – got behind the Stephenville defense and hauled in a 69-yard touchdown reception from Hall on a third-and-21, staking Brownwood to a 14-7 advantage with 18 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
Next week, the Lions open defense of their District 2-4A Division I championship as they venture to Big Spring at 7 p.m. Friday to battle the Steers (3-3), who are coming off a 35-14 loss to Canyon.
***
Stephenville 27, Lions 17
SCORE BY QUARTERS
| Stephenville | 7 | 10 | 0 | 10 | – 27 |
| Brownwood | 17 | 0 | 0 | 3 | – 17 |
***
SCORING SUMMARY
B: Aaron Edmonds 35 pass from Ike Hall (Junior Martinez kick), 8:01, 1st
S: Ryan Gafford 19 run (Diego Chavarria kick), 3:13, 1st
B: Carson Noe 69 pass from Hall (Martinez kick), 0:18, 1st
S: Bryson Powell 2 run (Chavarria kick), 5:46, 2nd
S: Chavarria 34 FG, 3:03, 2nd
B: Martinez 47 FG, 10:03, 4th
S: Tristian Gentry 65 pass from Hudson Butchee (Chavarria kick), 5:53, 4th
S: Chavarria 39 FG, 2:01, 4th
***
| TEAM STATS | S | B |
| First Downs | 13 | 12 |
| Total Offense | 304 | 243 |
| Rushes-Yards | 41-153 | 27-71 |
| Passing Yards | 151 | 172 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 7-16-0 | 12-23-2 |
| Fumbles Lost | 0 | 0 |
| Penalties-Yards | 7-60 | 2-25 |
| Punts-Average | 5-34.5 | 6-34.8 |
***
PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: S – Tate Maruska 5-63; La’Trell Titus 8-56; Ryan Gafford 8-35, TD; Bryson Powell 11-15, TD; Tristian Gentry 1-3; Hudson Butchee 5-2; Team 3-(-21). B – Ike Hall 13-44; Levi Pearson 13-38; Team 1-(-11).
PASSING: S: Butchee 4-6-0-130, TD; Gafford 3-8-0-21; Gentry 0-1-0-0. B – Hall 12-23-2-172, 2 TDs
RECEIVING: S – Gentry 2-121, TD; Noah Bullion 2-16; Judson Wells 1-11; Powell 1-4; Maruska 1-(-1). B – Carson Noe 5-97, TD; Pearson 4-25; Aaron Edmonds 1-35, TD; Morsello Hooker 1-12; Hayden Noe 1-4.
KICKING: B – Junior Martinez 2 of 2 PATs. 1 of 1 FG, 47 yards
6 punts, 215 yards, 35.8 average, long of 43, 3 inside 20.
