A number of promising moments presented themselves during the 2022 season opener at Gordon Wood Stadium Friday night, but at the end of the evening the Brownwood Lions were unable to cash in on enough to start their campaign with a victory.
Despite a spirited effort, the Lions dropped a 30-24 decision to Class 5A Division II Abilene Wylie, a game in which Brownwood fifth-year head coach Sammy Burnett cited three moments in particular that haunted the maroon and white. Still, the Lions had a chance to emerge victorious in spite of the ball not bouncing in their favor at times.
“They gave themselves a chance to win it until the very end, we just didn’t get it done,” Burnett said. “I saw some fight in them and what a fighter’s heart. They never one time laid down and thought they were going to lose. This is a great group of kids that want to win and will win, we just fell short today.”
The last, and perhaps most costly, of the plays that went against the Lions was their second and final turnover of the contest.
Down six points and facing a first-and-goal at the Wylie 8 with 8:39 left – after a deflected punt by Quinten McCarty allowed Brownwood to start its drive at the Bulldog 30 – tailback Logan McKibben, while fighting for extra yardage, had the ball jostled from his grip and the fumble was recovered by Wylie’s Wyatt Edmiston at the 5.
The first play that shifted the momentum away from Brownwood came at the 2:33 mark of the opening period as, after a three-and-out on the Lions’ second possession, the snap to punter Junior Martinez sailed over his head, and Martinez had no choice but to kick the ball out of the end zone for the safety.
Trailing 9-3 after that miscue, Wylie struck on the first play after the ensuing free kick as Braden Regala scored on a 51-yard reverse as the Bulldogs opened a 16-3 edge with 2:20 left in the opening stanza.
Then, after the Lions had closed the gap to 16-10 on a 47-yard scoring strike from Ike Hall to Jason Jackson, Brownwood took over at its 17 with 8:45 left in the opening half. Back-paddling to throw a screen pass, Hall was unable to get enough air under the ball, and Ryan Price deflected the pigskin and eventually hauled it in at the 3 en route to an interception and a touchdown for a 22-10 Bulldog cushion.
“Early in the game we have a snap go over our head for a safety, that’s two points,” Burnett said. “Then we couldn’t have called a better play, they stunted off the edge and we were trying to throw a screen and just didn’t get it off. Their kid batted the ball, caught it for a easy touchdown and walked in. And then we have a chance to go win the game late and got down to the 5-yard-line and turned the ball over.”
The Lions had other chances to net points in the second half, but couldn’t finish those drives, either. The first came with Brownwood down 30-17 with 5:49 left in the third period, as Martinez – who opened the scoring with a 30-yard field goal in the first quarter – was unable to connect on his second try from 39 yards out.
Brownwood then immediately forced a three-and-out by Wylie and took over at the Bulldog 38 after a 22-yard punt return by Case Markham. After gaining one first down, however, the drive stalled at the Wylie 23 as the Lions failed to convert a fourth-and-six.
Coupled with the late fumble, the Lions advanced inside the Wylie 25 on three occasions in the final two quarters and came away with no points to show for their efforts.
“We just have to find a way when the field reduces to keep pounding it and put it in,” Burnett said. “We have to grow as a family and get better and we will. We’ll go back and watch film and fix those things that hurt us so next week it won’t happen again. We just made too many mistakes to win the ball game tonight.”
The Lions outgained Wylie 375-349 in total yards and generated 22 first downs while allowing 16, but Brownwood did turn the ball over twice.
Hall, in his varsity debut at quarterback, completed 15 of 31 passes for 203 yards with a touchdown and an interception, while adding 33 yards on the ground. Jackson caught four passes for 73 yards, Jordan Leach added four grabs for 58 yards, Konlyn Anderson pulled down four receptions for 24 yards, Thad Hinds caught two passes for 37 yards and Brayden Daub snagged an 11-yard reception.
Behind the line of Isaac Gray, Roan Aguinaga, Chris Robinson, Damian Sanchez and Slayde Espinoza, the Lions churned out 172 rushing yards led by Anderson with 113 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries, and McKibben with 26 yards and a score on four rushes.
Defensively, Brownwood yielded 349 yards – 210 rushing and 139 passing – but shut out Wylie in the second half and yielded just 58 yards of total offense in the final two quarters. The Lions also forced Wylie’s lone turnover when Morsello Hooker picked off a pass by Kadin Long, who was 10 of 19 for 139 yards and added 60 yards rushing.
Sam Kallman led the Lions with 11 tackles followed by Chance Jones with 10 and a deflected punt, McCarty with six and a punt block, Hayden Noe and Steve Ramirez with five tackles each, Cole Miller with three and a sack, Jordyn Nickerson with three, Davis Le and Jake Jetton with two apiece, and Hooker, Dryden Anderson, Noah Barron, Hayden Deen and Brayden Daub were each credited with one tackle.
Wylie’s Landry Carlton rushed for a game-best 116 yards, Regala caught a game-high eight passes for 58 yards, Harrison Heighten finished with two receptions for 81 yards and a trip to the end zone, and Malachi Daniels rushed for 31 yards and scored once.
Of the Lions’ defensive turnaround in the second half, Burnett said, “We made some adjustments at halftime for what they were doing, but we just played better. We didn’t give them the big play, we made tackles, we made more sure tackles and that’s the difference. We were able to keep them behind the chains. One of our biggest leaders, (2021 leading tackler) Dryden Anderson, went down early and we had two kids that jumped into that spot and stepped in and I thought they did a good job. I’m proud of our kids, this was a great learning experience.”
The Lions grabbed a 3-0 lead on their first possession of the season as a 15-play, 66-yard, 5:34 trek ended with a 30-yard Martinez field goal.
Wylie responded on its first drive with a 90-yard journey – highlighted by a 43-yard catch by Heighten and scrambles of 14 and 25 yards by Long – before a 3-yard touchdown run by Daniels made the score 7-3.
The Bulldogs’ final points came on a 38-yard scoring toss from Long to Heighten with seven seconds left before halftime to stake Wylie to its 30-17 lead at intermission.
What turned out to be Brownwood’s last trip to the end zone was set up by Hooker’s interception at midfield with 2:01 left in the third period. Four plays later, McKibben barreled into the end zone from 15 yards away as the Lions crept within 30-24 with 58 seconds left in the quarter.
Next week, the Lions hit the road for the first of six regular-season games away from Gordon Wood Stadium as they visit the Class 4A Division I No. 20 Marble Falls Mustangs (1-0), who are coming off 52-7 win over 5A Division II Pflugerville Connally Thursday night.
“It’s going to be a tough preseason,” Burnett said. “We want to be where we need to be come district and whatever the record is at that point, I don’t know what it’s going to be. We’re going to try and grow every week and get better, and we just had a lot of kids that played their first Friday night football game and they grew up tonight.”
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Abilene Wylie 30, Lions 24
SCORE BY QUARTERS
| Wylie | 16 | 14 | 0 | 0 | – 30 |
| Brownwood | 3 | 14 | 7 | 0 | – 24 |
SCORING SUMMARY
B: Junior Martinez 30 FG, 6:26, 1st
W: Malachi Daniels 3 run (Brady Clark kick), 3:29, 1st
W: Safety – snap over punter’s head, through end zone, 2:33, 1st
W: Braden Regala 51 run (Clark kick), 2:20 1st
B: Jason Jackson 47 pass from Ike Hall (Martinez kick), 11:25, 2nd
W: Ryan Price 3 interception return (run failed), 8:37, 2nd
B: Konlyn Anderson 5 run (Martinez kick), 3:25, 2nd
W: Harrison Heighten 38 pass from Kadin Long (Clark kick), 0:07, 2nd
B: Logan McKibben 15 run (Martinez kick), 0:58, 3rd
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| TEAM STATS | W | B |
| First Downs | 16 | 22 |
| Total Offense | 349 | 375 |
| Rushes-Yards | 39-210 | 40-172 |
| Passing Yards | 139 | 203 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 10-19-1 | 15-31-1 |
| Penalties-Yards | 10-73 | 7-60 |
| Fumbles Lost | 0 | 1 |
| Punts-Average | 5-23.2 | 1-26.0 |
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PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: Wylie – Landry Carlton 17-116; Kadin Long 11-60; Braden Regala 1-51, TD; Malachi Daniels 9-31, TD. Brownwood – Konlyn Anderson 24-113, TD; Ike Hall 12-33; Logan McKibben 4-26, TD.
PASSING: Wylie – Long 10-19-1-139, TD. Brownwood – Hall 15-31-1-203, TD.
RECEIVING: Wylie – Regala 8-58; Harrison Heighten 2-81, TD. Brownwood – Jason Jackson 4-73, TD; Jordan Leach 4-58; Anderson 4-24; Thad Hinds 2-37; Brayden Daub 1-11.
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KICKING – Brownwood – Junior Martinez 1 of 2 FGs: Made 30, Missed 39; 3 of 3 PATs. 1 punt, 26 yards.
