Lions Power Past Waxahachie Life

lions-5

On a cold Wednesday night in Waxahachie, the Brownwood Lions clinched a playoff berth with a 48-14 victory over Waxahachie Life.  Behind the line of Brad Robinson, Jimi Brown, Ethan Pesina, Logan Gillem and Jared Northcutt, the Lions produced 448 yards of total offense – 236 passing and 212 rushing – and did not commit a turnover. Brownwood has coughed up the ball just once the last two games after committing 10 turnovers in the two games before their 17-day quarantine.

Blaize Espinoza completed 12 of 22 passes with four scoring tosses – two each to Jason Jackson, who finished with three catches for 112 yards, and Malachi Revada, who grabbed three passes for 64 yards. Dane Johnson finished with a team-high four catches for 45 yards.

By virtue of the win, the Lions improved to 4-4 on the season and 2-1 in District 5-4A Division I action. Life (2-7, 1-4) wrapped up their season Wednesday night, as did Alvarado (2-8, 0-5), which fell to La Vega (6-2, 3-1), the next foe on the Lions’ revamped schedule.

“We’re going to give the kids tomorrow off, but we have to prepare as a coaching staff in a hurry,” Coach Sammy Burnett said regarding Monday’s 7:30 p.m. contest at La Vega. “We usually have three days to do that this time we have one to get it done. We’ll give them the afternoon off so their bodies can recover a little bit before we get back at it on Friday and Saturday, and then play again on Monday.”

Wednesday’s victory was not without its costs, as Henderson – the Lions’ leading rusher with 973 yards – and defensive lineman Zach Bond both exited the game with left ankle injuries in the first half. Neither returned, and both left the field with the aid of crutches.

“We lost a couple of key guys tonight, hopefully it’s not for good,” Burnett said. “I don’t know about Royshad, it’s going to be tough, and then Zach Bond has a bad ankle. Khyren was limping a little bit, but it is what it is and it’s next man up and we’re going to go out here and try and play like Lions next Monday.”