The Brownwood Lions’ defense was gashed in its season-opening loss at Class 4A Division I No. 1 Lampasas last week, but displayed emphatic improvement Friday, serving as the catalyst for a 35-15 victory over the Class 4A Division II No. 8 Midland Greenwood Rangers in the home opener at Gordon Wood Stadium.
“Man I’m so proud of them, we needed this,” said Brownwood Lions assistant head coach David Jones, filling in for head coach Sammy Burnett who was quarantined Thursday for being in close contact with a person who has contracted COVID-19. “We needed to get into the win column. As I always tell the boys, wins are hard to come by. By all means it wasn’t pretty, but we needed to get into the win column and I’m glad we did. This is the momentum we need to propel us for the rest of the season. We’ve got some young kids out there that are playing, we’ve got nine sophomores up right now and I just commend our seniors for leading those guys. This year is going to be a process of getting those younger guys to grow up and I think we took one giant step today.”
After yielding 556 total yards in Week 1, including 434 on the ground, the Lions (1-1) yielded just 167 yards to Greenwood (1-1) and limited Trey Cross – a 2,000-plus yard rusher a year ago – to 105 yards on 28 carries, an average of just 3.75 yards per tote.
“We swarmed that kid,” Jones said in regard to Cross. “He’s a great running back, I think he rushed for 2,000 yards last year so he was a major point of emphasis all week. I thought up front we did a great job, we have some young kids up from the JV playing defensive line for us who I just thought played outstanding. The heroes of the defense this week were certainly our secondary because they were coming up and forcing fast, and against a wing-T team you have to be careful for the play-action pass and they never did get that stuff on us tonight. Overall I was extremely pleased with our defense.”
Brownwood’s defense also created four takeaways, and the Lions offense cashed in by turning each into a touchdown.
“That’s the name of the game,” Jones said of turning the takeaways into points. “Momentum is a big part of this game.”
The Lions finished with just 184 total yards, but made the most of their opportunities. Royshad Henderson rushed for 118 yards and three touchdowns while Chance Jones completed 11 of 17 passes for 82 yards with one touchdown pass, and he also rushed for a score.
Brownwood did give up a safety and turned the ball over twice, but Greenwood produced no points off either takeaway.
The Lions never trailed in their home opener as Brownwood took the opening kick and marched 64 yards in 12 plays, eating 5:37 off the clock before Henderson scored on a 3-yard carry. Jones converted a third-and-six pass to Elias Huerta for 11 yards, a third-and-6 pass to Dane Johnson for 7 yards and Henderson ran for 6 yards on a third-and-2 to keep the opening drive alive.
Brownwood then turned back a Greenwood bid to tie the game late in the first period. The Rangers began the series on the Lions 33 after Brownwood punted from its own end zone. Greenwood reached the 1 yard line, but quarterback Ty Flowers was stuffed on a fourth-and-goal play.
Just one snap later, Henderson was tackled in the end zone as Greenwood registered its first points and trailed 7-2 with 10:32 left in the half.
The Rangers didn’t keep the momentum long as two plays after Brownwood’s free kick, Malachi Revada picked off a Flowers pass and returned it to the Greenwood 21. Four plays later Jones hooked up with Jason Jackson – who led all receivers with four receptions for 51 yards – on a 10-yard slant in the end zone, and after Junior Martinez’s extra point the Lions owned a 14-2 edge with 8 minutes to go in the second quarter.
The Lions received almost a gift of a touchdown at the end of the half, as a Kris Hobbs sack of Flowers with 41 seconds left resulted in a fumble that was pounced on by Christian Chambers at the Ranger 4. Three snaps later, Jones scored on a 3-yard quarterback keeper which allowed Brownwood to take a 21-2 lead into the locker room at halftime.
“I thought we did a great job of keeping them off the field,” Jones said at halftime. “They’re a ball control offense and I think our defense played extremely well, we only gave up one run that I can think of that was of any conscience.
“Offensively, we were effective at times, but we have to be more consistent when we have a chance to move the ball on them.”
Greenwood took its opening drive of the second half 47 yards – following a facemask penalty on the kick return – in 11 plays as Flowers connected with Cade Carrell on a 22-yard scoring toss. Cross was unable to convert the two-point try as Brownwood’s lead stood at 21-8 with 8:01 left in the third.
With the Rangers attempting to seize more momentum, another turnover turned the tide back in favor of the Lions. First, Jones was sacked and fumbled at the Greenwood 34 with 3:47 left in third, but on the very next play three Lion defenders converged on Flowers, which jarred the ball loose and Hobbs recovered at the Ranger 29.
A fourth down pass interference penalty kept the drive alive, and two plays later Henderson barreled into the end zone from 15 yards out, staking the Lions to a 28-8 lead with 1:16 to go in the third.
Then, for the second week in a row, the Lions surrendered a kick return for a touchdown as Izaiah Ramirez darted 97 yards through Brownwood defenders to close the gap to 28-15 with a minute to go in the third.
“I was feeling really confident about how we won the special teams battle tonight until we let them return one one us,” Jones said. “I was telling the coaches we need to be able to enjoy some success. We go down and score a touchdown and kick off and they return it on us. That’s just part of growing up and understanding how important special teams are. But that’s two returns in two weeks and that’s completely unacceptable so we’re going to have to get better.”
Neither team was able to muster many yards in the fourth period, but Brownwood’s final punt of the night resulted in Greenwood’s fourth turnover. Blaize Espinoza, who averaged 47 yards per punt on his five attempts, launched a 52-yarder down to the Greenwood 8, which glanced off Ramirez’s hands. Cade Jetton gathered the loose ball, giving the Lions possession.
On the next play, with 3:48 to go, Henderson capped the scoring with an 8-yard touchdown sprint.
The Lions will shoot for a second straight victory next week as former district rival China Spring visits Gordon Wood Stadium. The Cougars (2-0) defeated Lorena, 42-13, Friday night after opening the season with a 74-35 victory over Benbrook.
“Major Bowden is their quarterback now and he was in our program for a little bit when his dad was coaching here with us,” Jones said. “I believe he’s more a running type quarterback. They’ve got a lot of kids back from last year, they always play tough, so we’re going to expect a knockdown drag out. There’s no love lost between our two programs, so we’re excited about the opportunity to play those guys.”
Brownwood 35, Greenwood 15
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Greenwood 0 2 13 0 – 15
Brownwood 7 14 7 7 – 35
SCORING SUMMARY
B: Royshad Henderson 3 run (Junior Martinez kick), 6:23, 1st
G: Safety – Henderson tackled in end zone, 10:32, 2nd
B: Jason Jackson 10 pass from Chance Jones (Martinez kick), 8:00, 2nd
B: Jones 3 run (Martinez kick), 0:22, 2nd
G: Cade Carrell 22 pass from Ty Flowers (run failed), 8:01, 3rd
B: Henderson 15 run (Martinez kick), 1:16, 3rd
G: Izaiah Ramirez 97 kick return (Ramirez kick), 1:00, 3rd
B: Henderson 8 run (Martinez kick), 3:43, 4th
TEAM STATS
Greenwood Brownwood
First Downs 8 15
Total Offense 167 184
Rushes-Yards 40-126 37-102
Passing Yards 41 82
Comp-Att-Int 4-10-1 11-17-1
Punts 4-33.7 5-47.0
Fumbles Lost 3 1
Penalties-Yards 7-63 8-58
PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: Greenwood – Trey Cross 28-105, Jimmy Vasquez 3-10, Bradyen Wauson 4-7, Ty Flowers 5-(-18). Brownwood – Royshad Henderson 27-118, Chance Jones 10-(-16).
PASSING: Greenwood – Flowers 4-10-1-41. Brownwood – Jones 11-17-1-82.
RECEIVING: Greenwood – Cade Carrell 2-25, Cross 1-8, Vasquez 1-8. Brownwood – Jason Jackson 4-51, Dane Johnson 3-6, Elias Huerta 2-20, Henderson 2-5.
