The fifth meeting all-time between the Brownwood Lions and Canyon Eagles will take place at 7 p.m Friday at Odessa’s Ratliff Stadium in the Class 4A Division I Region I area playoff round.

At stake is a berth in the regional semifinals against either Canyon West Plains (10-1) or Lampasas (9-2) Thanksgiving weekend.

The Lions and Canyon have split the previous four matches, with Brownwood winning the most recent – 31-10 in second-round playoff action in Midland in 2022.

“I’m excited about going to a place like Ratliff Stadium, as historic as it is in the annals of Texas high school football,” said Lions first-year head coach Jeryl Brixey. “I told the kids we’re playing a much better team this week, but that’s what you do in the playoffs, week to week they get better. I’m excited to see how we handle the week and how we play on Friday.”

Brownwood heads into Friday’s contest fresh off a 51-7 victory over Big Spring as, after a scoreless first quarter, the Lions dominated the rest of the way.

Regarding last’s week start to the game, and what he hopes to see this week, Brixey said, “I’ve been in a lot of football games that were 14-7 at the half that ended up 49-7. A lot of those games are like heavyweight bouts where people are throwing punches looking for weaknesses. The punches may not look like they’re doing much but you’re figuring things out. Sometimes that’s what looks like a slow start, but it’s just figuring out what they’re doing and what you need to do to counter that. What’s important is for us to go out and be physical and play hard, play our guts out, and then get things figured out. People will show you what they think is going to hurt you and you have to figure out what they’re trying to do in their game plan and how do we counter that. By the same token, we have to figure out where we’re better than they are so we can exploit those areas.”

Canyon is coming off a 66-13 victory over previously-undefeated El Paso Ysleta in its bi-district playoff. The Eagles generated 608 yards – 319 passing and 289 rushing.

Quarterback Brox Hacker completed 11 of 14 passes for 240 yards with five touchdowns, while rushing for 42 yards and another score, and Reece Baca was 4 of 4 for 79 yards with a scoring toss. Leading receivers were Bayler Schilling (7-148, 3 TDs), Noah Sanchez (5-102, TD), Isaiah Amaya (2-67, TD), and Cason Littau (1-10, TD). Leading the way on the ground were Tripp Miller (149 rushing yards), Beckett Miller (47 rushing yards, TD), and Austin Turner (28 rushing yards, TD).

For the season, Canyon is producing 30 points and 407 yards – 238 rushing and 169 passing – per game

Hacker has completed 89 of 150 passes for 1,450 yards with 14 touchdowns while rushing for 615 yards and seven more scores. Schilling (51-1,154, 12 TDs), Sanchez (25-260, TD), Amaya (13-225, 2 TDs), and Littau (13-134, TD) as the primary receiving threats, while Turner (993 rushing yards, 10 TDs) is the feature running back.

“They run a thousand formations on offense,” Brixey said. “They run wishbone, they run stacked I, they run spread, you name it. If someone has run it at some point in time, they have a version of it, and they shift a lot. Their quarterback is a good player for them and they have some designed quarterback runs. They throw a lot of screens and short game, and they have one receiver that they try and get over the top with.”

The Lion defense yields 22 points and 240 yards – 138 passing and 102 rushing – per outing, while creating 25 takeaways, including 16 interceptions, to go along with 25 sacks on the season.

Leading the charge for Brownwood are Brinson Martin (84.5 tackles, 10 for loss, 4.5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery), Wyatt Wolf (80 tackles, 2 for loss, 3 interceptions), Isaac Gonzales (76 tackles, 5 for loss, 5.5 sacks), Caven Webster (69.5 tackles, 2 for loss, 3 interceptions, 1 blocked kick), Christian Gray (55 tackles, 9 for loss, 8 sacks), Durham Brown (54 tackles, 1 for loss, 4 sacks, 2 interceptions, 2 fumble recoveries), Sirr Beam (35 tackles, 1 for loss, 3 interceptions, 1 fumble recovery), Nick Rodriguez (34.5 tackles, 1 for loss, 3 interceptions, 1 fumble recovery), Raul Eberhardt (28 tackles, 1 for loss, 2 sacks, 1 fumble recovery), Finn Hull (20 tackles, 1 interception), Raven Prado (18 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 interception, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 blocked punt), and Hayden Fulkersin (14.5 tackles, 1 for loss, 2.5 sacks).

As for the challenge of preparing for Canyon’s multi-faceted offense, Brixey said, “We’re going to have to do a good job of handling a whole lot of looks. In all the things they do you have to find the tells, what really matters in all that stuff. A lot of times it’s window dressing trying to get you distracted with your eyes, trying to get you to not adjust right or move right. The big part of it is getting your kids to line up right to make sure you don’t turn someone loose. It’s just a ton of repetitions, that’s how you get ready for it, see it as many times as you can see it before you get out there Friday night. It is difficult to prepare for, and a different preparation.”

The Eagle defense is similar stat-wise to Brownwood as they allow 18 points per game on average with 26 sacks and 23 takeaways, including 14 fumble recoveries. Against Ysleta, Canyon recorded five takeaways and four sacks.

Standouts on the Eagle defense are Aiden Martinez (86 tackles, 8 for loss, 3 sacks, 1 fumble recovery), Jake Doak (80 tackles, 3 for loss, 2 fumble recoveries), Rudy Flores (77 tackles, 5 for loss, 1 sack, 2 fumble recoveries), Kaz Abernethy (68 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 fumble recovery), Conner Armstrong (61 tackles, 3 for loss, 3 sacks, 1 fumble recovery), Levi Turner (52 tackles, 3 for loss), Breccan Crockett (45 tackles, 3 interceptions), Aiden Gutierrez (43 tackles, 6 for loss, 4 sacks), and Zacchaeus Garcia (26 tackles, 11 for loss, 8 sacks).

“They run a 3-4 defensively with quarters coverage behind it,” Brixey said. “They’re not real complicated in what they do defensively. They’re big up front and they’ll stem the front a little bit. Their nose guard is 295 pounds, and a big space taker in the middle, and their ends are rangy kids. Their kids are sound and know exactly what they’re doing. They’re going to line up and make you beat them.”

Brownwood counters with an offense that amasses 29 points and 266 yards – 157 passing and 109 rushing – per outing, but with 23 turnovers.

Behind combination of Aviud Gomez, Aidan Packheiser, Gustavo Gonzalez, Jackson Rainey, Rylan Martin and Omari McNeil up front, quarterback Judson Coalson has completed 104 of 181 passes for 1,691 yards with 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Top receiving options are Carson Noe (43-814, 11 TDs), Connor Cornelius (20-346, 5 TDs), Hudson Fry (7-135, TD), Raven Prado (7-85) and Daylyn Ansons (7-37), Carrying the load on the ground primarily is Trent Buffington (684 rushing yards, 8 TDs.)

“When you go back and look at the video from last week there’s things you see where we can get better, but that’s encouraging because how can you get any better if you’re playing your best,” Brixey said. “Big Spring did things a little bit differently than what we thought and we did some things early on to hurt ourselves. The thing that was clicking eventually for us the other night was running the football, and I feel like that’s part of being a multiple offense, you find what’s working and you stick with that until they make an adjustment.”

Friday’s winner advances to face either Canyon West Plains (10-1) or Lampasas (9-2) in the regional semifinal round.

According to Harris Ratings Weekly, Brownwood is a 4-point underdog.