ABILENE – The defense kept the Brownwood Lions within striking distance while the offense labored to no avail in a 25-0 season-opening loss to the Class 5A Division II Abilene Wylie Bulldogs Friday night to kick off the Jeryl Brixey coaching era.
The Lions surrendered just 244 yards of total offense – 195 on the ground and 49 passing – to the Bulldogs, who mustered a pair of touchdown drives, booted a field goal before halftime, and scored from the 1 after a late Brownwood turnover.
“I’m very, very pleased with how we played defensively,” Brixey said. “I think our kids played hard and did a lot of good things. The one thing I’ve said since the day I was hired is we’re going to be great on defense. I feel like that showed for us tonight against a really good 5A football team. I think it’s going to be something our kids are enthused about and something we’re going to build on.”
On the flip side of the ball, the Lions mustered just 92 total yards – 47 rushing and 45 passing – with a pair of turnovers. Brownwood was also sacked four times, while a bad snap on a field goal attempt resulted in a major loss of yardage, and kept the Lions from avoiding a shutout, and a high snap out of the shotgun led to another significant setback in terms of field position.
“Offensively, we looked like a team with a lot of young linemen in a new system,” Brixey said. “There were some glimmers, but we’ve certainly got a lot of things we have to fix on both sides of the football.”
Wylie scored on an eight-play, 57-yard drive to start the contest, which ended on a 3-yard touchdown run by Dylan Regala. Bo Kates added a two-point conversion on a trick play out of the extra point snap to make the score 8-0 with 8:18 left in the opening quarter. The Bulldogs didn’t reach the end zone again, however, until late in the third period.
The Bulldogs later traveled 62 yards down to the Brownwood 4, where its final drive of the first half stalled with 24 seconds left. There, Noah Rehburg booted a 21-yard field goal for an 11-0 halftime margin.
Wylie moved 57 yards in nine plays on its initial drive of the second half, which ended with a 6-yard plunge into the end zone by Regala for an 18-0 Bulldog advantage at the 4:30 mark of the third period.
Then, with 6:09 left in the contest, after a Brownwood fumble at its own 1, Julius Laine – who rushed for 126 yards – scored on a 1-yard dive for the Bulldogs for the final 25-point margin.
“We were sitting there at 18-0 halfway through the third quarter and we felt like if we can just get one touchdown offensively it changes the ball game,” Brixey said. “That’s the thing about being great defensively, you give yourself a chance to win every ball game. We’re going to continue to get better at tackling, continue to get better at fitting, and then we’re going to continue to work on the things we need to fix offensively.”
The Lions’ first drive of the game saw Brownwood venture from its own 35 to the Wylie 30, where quarterback Judson Coalson’s fourth-and-3 pass was intercepted by Kaleb Burns.
Brownwood journeyed from the Wylie 45 to the Bulldog 23 on its last possession, where Eli Valencia came out to attempt a 40-yard field goal with 2:36 left. The snap was wide, however, which resulted in a 9-yard loss, a turnover on downs, and the Lions’ first shutout defeat in a season opener since 1992 – a 20-0 loss at the hands of Abilene Cooper.
Despite the offensive struggles, Levi Pearson finished with 66 rushing yards on 19 carries, Coalson was 5 of 7 through the air for 45 yards, and Carson Noe hauled in four receptions for 36 yards for the Lions.
“I liked how hard our backs ran, and I liked how Judson took control of things at times,” Brixey said of the offense. “There’s a lot going on out there, a lot of moving parts. I think there’s some positives with that, and the negatives are just inexperience. It’s the first time being out against a team like this. We had some of the same mistakes we had in the scrimmage a week ago, things we know we have to get fixed.”
Brownwood committed just four penalties for 36 yards compared to Wylie’s 12 for 93 yards, but the two turnovers – which could have more due to a plethora of fumbles on center-quarterback exchanges – led to one Bulldog touchdown and likely prevented the Lions from putting points on the board on their initial possession of the season.
“We had too many fumbled snaps and too many penalties, because any are too many,” Brixey said.
Next week, the Lions will open the home portion of their schedule against Class 3A Division II No. 3 Wall (1-0), which defeated Mason, 48-7, Friday night.
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Abilene Wylie 25, Brownwood 0
SCORE BY QUARTERS
| Brownwood | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – 0 |
| Abilene Wylie | 8 | 3 | 7 | 7 | – 25 |
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SCORING SUMMARY
W: Dylan Regala 3 run (Bo Kates run), 8:18, 1st
W: Noah Rehburg 21 FG, 0:24, 2nd
W: Regala 6 run (Rehburg kick), 4:30, 3rd
W: Julius Laine 1 run (Rehburg kick), 6:09, 4th
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| TEAM STATS | B | W |
| First Downs | 9 | 14 |
| Total Offense | 92 | 244 |
| Rushes-Yards | 34-47 | 41-195 |
| Passing Yards | 45 | 49 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 5-7-1 | 5-7-0 |
| Fumbles Lost | 1 | 0 |
| Penalties-Yards | 4-36 | 12-93 |
| Punts-Average | 5-30.2 | 4-35.5 |
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PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: B – Levi Pearson 19-66; Trent Buffington 2-16; Robbie Robinson 4-8; Judson Coalson 7-(-18); Team 2-(-25). W – Julius Laine 23-126, TD; Cooper Jones 7-35; Jadin Karleskint 7-20; Dylan Regala 4-14, 2 TDs.
PASSING: B – Coalson 5-7-1-45. W – Karleskint 5-7-0-49.
RECEIVING: B – Carson Noe 4-26; Connor Cornelius 1-9. W – Regala 2-23; Blaze Ruffin 1-22; Michael Pena-Perez 1-5; Laine 1-(-1).
KICKING: B – Eli Valenciano 0 of 0 PATs. 0 of 1 FG, bad snap.
5 punts, 151 yards, 30.2 average.