Taking the field for the first time in 21 days, the Brownwood Lions raced out to a 21-point lead after one quarter and never looked back, keeping their postseason hopes alive with a 47-14 thrashing of the District 5-4A Division I rival Alvarado Indians in Friday night’s home finale at Gordon Wood Stadium.
The Lions’ season was put on pause due to 47 players within program being quarantined after one tested positive for COVID-19. After 17 days away from school, Brownwood practiced for the first time Wednesday and got in five workouts in two days prior to kick off Friday night.
“Our kids were loose when we got here to the stadium, were relaxed, had smiles on their faces and were joking,” said Lions third-year head coach Sammy Burnett. “I told (Assistant head) Coach (David) Jones it’s going to go one of two ways – it’s going to be real good or it’s going to be real bad. They came out and played with confidence and played fast probably for the first time all year. Alvarado’s a good football team but we made them look not too good tonight.”
Brownwood (3-4, 1-1) finished with 424 yards of total offense – 218 rushing and 206 passing – and just one turnover after committing 10 in the last two games, while holding Alvarado (2-7, 0-4) to 213 total yards – 149 through the air and 64 on the ground – while forcing a pair of turnovers.
“We executed well, especially going down and scoring on the first drive which was huge,” Burnett said. “Our defense also stepped up and stopped a pretty good offense that other teams have had trouble stopping.”
Behind the line of Ethan Pesina, Jimi Brown, Brad Robinson, Logan Gillem and Jared Northcutt, tailback Royshad Henderson rushed for 170 yards and four touchdowns, while quarterback Blaize Espinoza passed for 206 yards and one touchdown while rushing for 34 yards and two more scores. Jason Jackson led all receivers with five receptions for 128 yards with a trip the end zone.
“We’re always striving for perfection,” Burnett said. “Our routes were good and our reads were good for the most part, but we made a couple of mistakes. We ran the ball well for the most part but I wanted to see us move the chains more in the second half. No matter what the other team is doing our goal is to move the ball on the ground. A couple of times we had to throw the ball because we couldn’t move it on the ground. We still have to grow up front and be able to solidify the run game more.”
The Lions defense limited Alvarado’s William Labermeier, who had rushed for 1,338 yards coming into the game, to just 53 yards on 19 carries. Labermeier did catch two passes for 73 yards and also hurled a 30-yard touchdown on a halfback pass. The rest of the Alvarado offense mustered 57 yards on the 27 plays in which Labermeier didn’t touch the ball.
“I thought our kids played extremely well and played as team,” Burnett said. “We went to our prayer breakfast this morning and the message our team heard was so relevant to where we are and what we’re tying to do and they bought into that and came out and played as a unit. They played every play with great passion and that’s all we’ve ever asked. I told them let’s go gel and be the team we can be now because we have a future in front of us and I think they responded and did that. If we continue to grow off that and do the same thing next week we’ll get the same kind of results.”
Brownwood took the opening drive of the game 54 yards in 10 plays as Henderson – who picked up 31 rushing yards on the march – scored from 5 yards out to stake the Lions to a 7-0 lead after Junior Martinez’s extra point with 7:54 left in the first period.
Alvarado went four-and-out on its first drive, failing to convert a fourth-and-4 at its own 31. The Lions needed just two plays to score again as a 23-yard toss from Espinoza to Dane Johnson set up Henderson’s 11-yard scoring scamper, pushing Brownwood’s lead to 14-0 with 5:38 left in the opening stanza.
Three more Indian plays failed to yield a first down as Alvarado opted to punt on its second fourth down of the game. The Lions moved 61 yards in just four plays as a 41-yard connection from Espinoza to Jackson set up a 1-yard Espinoza plunge that extended the Brownwood edge to 21-0 with 3:10 left in the first period.
“The first half they didn’t stop us, we stopped ourselves,” Burnett said. “You have to expect some poor execution after being off for 17 yards, and I thought there would be more of that but there wasn’t.”
Alvarado closed the gap to 21-7 on a 3-yard carry by Labermeier at the 10:30 mark of the second period. A 70-yard pass from quarterback West Conner to Labermeier on a wheel route set up the touchdown.
Brownwood’s next two drives reached the red zone but netted no points. Alvarado was unable to capitalize, however, and – following a 24-yard Indian punt – Espinoza scored on a 17-yard scramble to cap a three-play, 32-yard drive to increase the lead to 27-7 with 5:13 left in the half.
The Lions’ next drive resulted in a turnover as Espinoza was picked off by Alvarado’s Devin Bridgewater. Just two plays later, Lion linebacker Chance Jones intercepted Conner for the first of Brownwood’s two takeaways. On the very next snap, Henderson broke free for a 69-yard touchdown that pushed the Lions’ lead to 34-7 with 1:18 remaining in the second period.
Alvarado’s final drive of the half finished in bizarre fashion. After coming up short on a third-and-14 pass, Conner spiked the ball facing a fourth-and-3 with 4 seconds left on the clock. The Lions took over at the Indian 48, where Espinoza lobbed a pass over double coverage and into the arms of Jackson as Brownwood scored on the final play of the half to carry a 40-7 lead into the locker room.
“The momentum they got last year in the playoffs came when they threw the hitch and pitch and scored right before the half,” Burnett said. “This time they made mistake, they wanted to get a first down and kill the clock, but they didn’t get the first down and their young man went and killed the clock. That gave us a chance and I told them to take a shot and we were able to score.”
The Lions added an additional touchdown in the second half as Henderson scored on a 9-yard carry at the 3:07 mark of the third period. The scoring drive covered 66 yards in nine plays and chewed 6:14 off the clock.
Alvarado tacked on its second and final touchdown with a trick play at the 8:43 mark of the fourth, as Labermeier hurled a 30-yard halfback pass to tight end Blake Bledsoe.
The Indians’ final possession resulted in their second turnover as Hunter Day picked off a pass with 4:42 to go, and the Lions ran out the clock.
Next up for the Lions is a 7:30 p.m. Wednesday date at Waxahachie Life (2-6, 1-3) – which is coming off a 49-13 loss to Stephenville – where a victory would clinch Brownwood’s 12th straight trip to the playoffs.
“They have a very talented football, they’ve got a lot of speed, they’ve got some big guys up front, and they’re scary,” Burnett said. “They’re not as disciplined as we are I think, and if we can be disciplined and execute we can have the advantage, but they’re very athletic so we have to have a great game plan and we’re going to have to come out and execute and win all three phases.”
Brownwood 47, Alvarado 14
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Alvarado 0 7 0 7 – 14
Brownwood 21 19 7 0 – 47
SCORING SUMMARY
B: Royshad Henderson 5 run (Junior Martinez kick), 7:54, 1st
B: Henderson 11 run (Martinez kick), 5:38, 1st
B: Blaize Espinoza 1 run (Martinez kick), 3:10, 1st
A: William Labermeier 3 run (Dylan Cox kick), 10:30, 2nd
B: Espinoza 17 run (kick failed), 5:13, 2nd
B: Henderson 69 run (Martinez kick), 1:18, 2nd
B: Jason Jackson 48 pass from Espinoza (kick failed), 0:00, 2nd
B: Henderson 9 run (Martinez kick), 3:07, 3rd
A: Blake Bledsoe 30 pass from Labermeier (Cox kick), 8:43, 4th
TEAM STATS
Alvarado Brownwood
First Downs 9 22
Total Offense 213 424
Rushes-Yards 24-64 39-218
Passing Yards 149 206
Comp-Att-Int 8-25-2 12-19-1
Punts 6-30.8 1-28.0
Fumbles Lost 0 0
Penalties-Yards 4-26 2-25
PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: Alvarado – William Labermeier 19-53, Cesar Reyes 2-11, Kevin Brown 1-3, West Conner 2-(-3). Brownwood – Royshad Henderson 19-170 4, TDs; Konlyn Anderson 8-40; Blaize Espinoza 9-34, 2 TDs; Team 3-(-26).
PASSING: Alvarado – Conner 7-24-2-119; Labermeier 1-1-0-30, TD. Brownwood – Espinoza 9-15-1-206, TD .
RECEIVING: Alvarado – Carlos Puebla 3-14; Labermeier 2-73; Ty Ford 2-32; Blake Bledsoe 1-30, TD. Brownwood – Jason Jackson 5-128, TD; Elias Huerta 3-32; Malachi Revada 2-22; Dane Johnson 1-23; Jackson Huff 1-1.
