BURNET – Coming off last week’s bye, the Brownwood Lions surrendered a 10-play, 79-yard, 4:28 opening touchdown drive to the Burnet Bulldogs in their second District 4-4A Division I football contest of the 2025 campaign Friday night.
But once Burnet crossed the goal line, the Lions’ domination began as 38 unanswered points later, Brownwood had collected its fourth consecutive victory, 38-7, to remain unbeaten in league play.
Immediately after Burnet (4-5, 1-2) scored on a 7-yard carry by Bryan Johnson, Raven Prado returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a Brownwood (5-3, 2-0) touchdown, as the momentum swung in favor of the Lions, who never relinquished it.
“I feel like that changed the entire team morale,” Prado said of his kickoff return. “We were a little down after Burnet went down and scored, so that play helped us out a lot. I want to give a shout out to all my blockers on that play, if wasn’t for them that play wouldn’t have happened. Honestly, it’s about seeing the field the best you can and just finding the hole and hitting it, that’s all you can really do.”
Lions first-year head coach Jeryl Brixey added, “Raven’s a threat every time he touches the football, and we’re working offensively on more ways to get the ball in his hands because he really is dynamic.”
The Lions did not convert the two-point conversion and still trailed 7-6, but less than two minutes into the second period Brownwood seized the advantage for good after an 8-yard touchdown pass from Judson Coalson to Carson Noe, and then Prado caught the two-point conversion pass, capping a five-play, 51-yard drive after a 17-yard Burnet punt. A 32-yard toss from Coalson to Noe the play prior to the touchdown set the Lions up to take the lead.
Ahead 14-7 with 10:01 remaining before halftime, Brownwood tacked on 10 more first-half points en route to a 24-7 halftime advantage. The Lions’ eventual 31-point margin of victory in its 11th consecutive win over Burnet is the largest ever in the 12-game history of the series.
“I keep saying we’re getting better, and I’m never going to be satisfied, but we did a lot of good things tonight,” Brixey said. “The defense played outstanding and gave up one drive to start the game, and even then I told them those drives don’t bother me when they’re having to string plays together. You can get that fixed, opposed to getting killed by big plays and then you’re in a panic. If they have to sustain drives to be able to score, in my experience, you’re usually going to have a pretty good night defensively.”
By night’s end, Brownwood yielded just 157 yards of total offense – 109 rushing and 48 passing – to Burnet, as the Bulldogs mustered only 78 total yards after their first drive of the game, and a mere 25 yards in the second half of the contest.
Regarding the defensive turnaround after the opening drive, Brixey said, “Burnet does a lot of stuff with formations, but I think our kids just calmed down and played. That’s all you have to do. We preach play the next play, get lined up, get things fixed and figured out, and get used to what they’re doing, and that’s what they did.”
The Lions also registered two more takeaways, giving them 19 on the season, as first Wyatt Wolf stepped in front of a pass by Burnet quarterback Fisher Powell, after the Bulldogs had marched into Brownwood territory, and returned the interception 72 yards for a touchdown. The pick six extended the Lions’ advantage to 21-7 with 3:45 left before halftime.
“We’ve been working on that all week in practice,” Wolf said. “They run that out route and I jumped it and then everybody thought I was out of bounds, but Nick (Rodriguez) helped me stay inbounds and I just ran.”
Brixey added, “That was crazy. I don’t know how he didn’t go out of bounds, I couldn’t see very well but I thought he going about of bounds about three times, so that was awesome. The defense is doing a great job with turnovers. As I’ve said before, they coach it, they stress it, they push it, and we’ve got some good kids back there.”
Brownwood’s second takeaway came immediately after Coalson was intercepted at the Burnet 31 with 1:15 remaining in the second period.
The Bulldogs opted for a halfback pass on the first snap after the change of possession, and Johnson hurled the pigskin wildly down the field and into the arms of Lion Caven Webster, who returned the interception to Burnet 42 with 58 seconds remaining. The half then ended with a 32-yard Eli Valenciano field goal for a 17-point halftime cushion, as Brownwood scored 10 points off takeaways.
“Coach said they were going to do something tricky,” Webster said. “I saw a guy coming but he was screaming, so I knew it was trick play. I ran back and saw the ball and went up for it and got it. That definitely swung back the momentum and we were able to get the offense going again after that.”
Regarding the Lions’ ability to create turnovers in bunches this season, Webster said, “We have takeaway Tuesdays every week at practice, and if we don’t get enough takeaways on that day we have to run after practice, and none of us like running after practice.”
Leading by 17 at the break, the Lions notched a pair of second-half touchdowns as Levi Pearson found the end zone from 2 yards out with 5:33 left in the third period. A 37-yard punt return by Prado allowed Brownwood to start that scoring drive from the Burnet 27.
Then, with 7:41 to go in the contest, Coalson connected with Brinson Martin on his first reception of the season, a 5-yard touchdown toss that capped the scoring.
Offensively, Brownwood produced 233 yards behind a balanced attack of 117 rushing and 116 passing, as scoring on defense and special teams played a role in keeping the Lions’ yardage total lower than it has been in recent weeks.
Coalson connected on 11 of 18 passes with the two touchdowns and one interception, Noe grabbed three receptions for 47 yards and scored once, and Pearson rushed for a team-high 63 yards behind the front line of Gustavo Gonzalez, Aidan Packheiser, Aviud Gomez, Jackson Rainey and Rylan Martin.
“Offensively we did some good stuff again and we’re still improving,” Brixey said.
Next week, the Lions host the Harris Ratings Weekly Class 4A Division I No. 1 Stephenville Yellow Jackets in the 85th Battle of 377 and home finale. Stephenville (8-0, 2-0) tallied a 49-7 victory over Lampasas (7-2, 1-2) Friday night.
“I’ll think about that one later,” Brixey said. “I’m going to let the kids enjoy this one and then we’ll get ready to get after them.”