Brownwood vs Wichita Falls Friday at ACU

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Two teams who have displayed stellar defenses over the past month clash with a berth in the Class 4A Division I Region I championship game at stake, as the Brownwood Lions and Wichita Falls Coyotes cross paths at 7 p.m. Friday at Abilene Christian University in a regional semifinal tilt.

The Lions (10-2), fresh off a 31-10 area championship victory over Canyon, have allowed just 13 points over their last games and an average of 179 yards per game during that span.

Wichita Falls (8-4) is in the midst of a season-best four-game win steak and has given up 45 points in that span – an average of 11 per game – and no team has scored more than 14 points against the Coyotes in the past month. For the season, the Coyotes are giving up 25 points with 23 sacks and 34 takeaways – 19 interceptions and 15 fumble recoveries.

Last week, District 3 runner-up Wichita Falls – led by former Brownwood offensive coordinator and basketball head coach Grant Freeman – advanced to the third round with a 31-7 over the Lions’ District 2 rival Big Spring as the Coyotes yielded just 194 yards – 160 through the air and 34 on the ground – but did not force a turnover.

“They’ve run several defenses, so it could be a challenge because we’ll have to see what they get in,” said Lions fifth-year head coach Sammy Burnett. “They’ve been in a 5-1 bear front, they’ve been in a 4-2-5, and they’ve been in a 3-3 stack, which is really similar to what we do. We’ll have to decipher what they’re trying to do and how they’re trying to attack us and adjust our game plan accordingly during the game. I think we have a solid game plan that’ll challenge any defense that they’re in.

“They’re not big, but they’re fast and fly around. They have a really good linebacker in Cameron Gould. He’s a good athlete that we have to make sure we get blocked. In the back end their kids run around and cover well. They play a lot of zone, they’ll play some man free, and our job is to dominate the line of scrimmage and win up front with the offensive line and establish the run game. That could be vital with the fact that the weather could be bad and the wind could be blowing up to 20 miles an hour and that could affect the passing game.”

The forecast calls for rain, possibly heavy, and temperatures in the 40’s with gusty north wind.  Listen to the game on KOXE 101.3, KOXE.com or the KOXE App.