The greatest threat to the Brownwood Lions’ flawless District 5-4A soccer record came in the form of the Lampasas Badgers Friday night at Gordon Wood Stadium, but for the second time in league play head coach Michael Westerman’s squad prevailed, though this time the maroon and white needed a penalty kick shootout to secure the outcome.

After both teams made their first three kicks of the extra session – with Brownwood’s successes coming from Aiden Jimenez, Eli Valenciano and Alex Vaquera – goal keeper Hudson Fry deflected Lampasas’ fourth attempt, giving the advantage firmly to the Lions. Jermiah Chacon then drilled Brownwood’s fourth try, while Lampasas’ last gasp on its fifth attempt sailed over the net, clinching the win for the Lions.

“Hudson’s a competitor and a young kid, but that dude brings so much fire and energy to our team, and really takes a huge leadership role for us,” Westerman said. “He’s a goal keeper that hates being scored on, whether it’s a practice session or whatever it is, and we love that because it pushes our team a lot. We always finish our sessions with PKs and every time we miss a PK it’s a quick sprint 50 yards and then the last kick, when all the pressure’s the highest, it’s for a full field sprint. We put a lot of pressure on the boys in these PK moments, and some practices go the kickers’ way but a lot of them go Hudson’s way. We know if we can put a couple past Hudson, then we can put them past any goal keeper, so our confidence was high going into the PK shootout because in our mind we feel like we have the best goal keeper in the district.”

Friday’s victory extended the unbeaten streak for the Lions (8-1-2, 5-0) to nine matches, and also surpassed 2025’s win total though Brownwood advanced to the third round of the playoffs a year ago.

Knotted at 1 halftime, the Lions weren’t able to put away Lampasas (8-5-1, 2-3) – which Brownwood defeated 2-1 in the league opener back on Feb. 3 – despite controlling possession of the ball for most of the second half.

“That’s a bit frustrating given we’ve had a lot of success in the attacking third this year and scored a lot of goals,” Westerman said. “A lot of opportunities we had tonight we put similar ones away in previous games this season. There was a bit of frustration but that’s how the game goes sometimes, it doesn’t fall your way, but you have to be able to deal with that kind of adversity. If it’s not falling in the back of their net we don’t want it falling in the back of our net. We able at least to get it in the PK shootout.”

The Lions found themselves in a 1-0 hole less than three minutes into the contest, a deficit that took nearly half of the opening half to erase.

“It was a punch in the mouth, definitely not the expectations we hold,” Westerman said. “Our defense has been very solid and we’ve demanded a lot of out them, and they’ve always stepped up and rose to the occasion. We were just switched off and they caught us switched off and it was very difficult and very frustrating to deal with. But again, that’s how the game goes sometimes and they caught us on our back foot and exploited us when we were weak. We had a choice of how to respond and our boys responded with a goal to tie the game.”

Brownwood pulled even at 1, where the score remained the rest of regulation, with 19:20 left before halftime as Aiden Jimenez scored from 10 yards out following a rebound after the Lampasas goal keeper had turned away Jonathan Skrhak’s shot.

“Aiden has been on a hot streak and has been able to find the back of the net several times,” Westerman said. “It was a scrappy finish, our kid was in the right place at the right time. The goalie spilled the ball and he cleaned it up and again, sometimes that;s what it takes, some scrappiness when the ball gets put in the air in a dangerous spot and there’s a lot of bodies around. It comes down to who wants it more, and Aiden Jimenez wanted it more at that point.”

The 5-4A front-leading Lions have their second district bye Tuesday, then are back in action at 7 p.m. Friday when they welcome last-place Little River Academy to Gordon Wood Stadium, looking to push their unbeaten streak to 10 matches.

“It’s awesome, we’re enjoying it, but I kept telling the boys we have to continue to be confident but not content,” Westerman said of the Lions’ run of success. “The expectations stay the same no matter what team they put in front of us, and what kind of style they play, and what kind of game it is. Our expectations stay high and that doesn’t change from opponent to opponent. These boys have done an excellent job of staying true to who they are and how they want this program to be, and that’s a testament to the result of these games.”