The Brownwood Lions scored twice in a three-minute during the final 15 minutes of their District 4-4A and home soccer opener to rally past the Graham Steers, 3-2, Friday night at Gordon Wood Stadium.
“It’s great to have a home game finally after a long, exhausting preseason, and it’s not the first time we faced adversity with a comeback win this season,” said Lions first-year head coach Michael Westerman. “It’s great to have that kind of energy and show that resiliency to face adversity at home in front of a good crowd and good support.”
Trailing 2-1 with 13:14 left, Caleb Nelson found the back of the net to knot the score at 2.
“The goal by Caleb Nelson was just excellent work ethic getting the ball into the attacking third and just having resilience and never letting the play end,” Westerman said. “Excellent job taking that last player on and finishing the ball.”
Then, with 10:26 remaining in regulation, Noah Barron recorded his second goal off a header to push Brownwood back in front.
“The last one by Noah Barron was just excellent as far as getting up there, competing, and the aerial ability to get the header,” Westerman said.
The Lions grabbed a 1-0 lead with 11:43 left in the first half as Barron recorded his first goal on a penalty kick.
“A good ball gets played into Noah, who is one of our explosive attacking players that can take a player one v one,” Westerman said. “He made a great move and drew a foul in the box, then had the confidence to step up and bury it in the back of the net. Excellent game out of him today.”
Graham drew even at 1 with 7:11 left in the first half, then took its only lead, 2-1, just 3:13 into the second half.
The Lions (4-6-2, 1-0) are back in action at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday as they welcome Mineral Wells to Gordon Wood Stadium.
As for the importance of the victory, Westerman said, “This is huge. Coming from previous seasons and the struggles in district games, and even a tough preseason and facing some very tough competition, this is a huge game that just shows us what we’re capable of doing if we buy into it. So far we’re starting to see that, but there’s still a lot work we still need to put in to get to where we want to be. But this is a huge motivational boost.”
