ALVARADO – As the final scrimmage of the preseason wore on for the Class 4A Division II No. 24 Brownwood Lions, they were able to wear down the Class 4A Division I No. 12 Alvarado Indians, owning a 21-14 scoring advantage in a live half to conclude Thursday’s action.
The Lions gave up a pair of touchdowns in the controlled portion of the scrimmage – on runs of 4 yards, set up by a 51-yard gallop, and a 68-yard scamper that featured several missed tackles. Brownwood also yielded the first touchdown of the live half with 4:13 left in the first period, but responded with three consecutive scoring drives to completely change the complexion of the scrimmage.
“I wasn’t real pleased through the controlled scrimmage part of it on either side of the football,” said Lions second-year head coach Jeryl Brixey. “We got into the live half and we became a football team in that live half. The kids battled up front, we did a lot of good things running the football, we had some play action passes that were effective. I didn’t want to try and drop back and throw it because of how we pass protected in the controlled part. I didn’t want to give them any momentum. If we could just keep pounding the rock and wearing them down and not let them get a big play when our defense was out there, I felt we had them on their heels.”
Brownwood answered Alvarado’s first touchdown in the live half with 10-play, 75-yard scoring drive that was ignited by a 31-yard completion from Riggs Gray to Rush Tharp, while Trent Buffington rushed for 44 yards and a 3-yard touchdown, knotting the score at 7 with 23 seconds left in the opening stanza.
“I challenged Trent about how he was running,” Brixey said. “I told him he wasn’t running like he was a year ago, he was trying to be a dancer and that’s not his forte. His forte is to be a jet, and he re-embraced that and you see a difference when he runs like that.”
Brownwood’s defense forced a three-and-out on the next Alvarado possession, giving up 6 yards on two run plays and forcing a third-down incompletion.
The Lions then took over at their own 40 after an Alvarado punt, and a 60-yard, nine-play scoring drive ensued. Buffington rushed for 31 more yards, while Gray connected on passes of 8 and 11 yards to Conner Cornelius, and a 5-yard scoring toss to Isaac Gonzales, which pushed Brownwood in front, 14-7, with 6:28 to go.
“We started out and weren’t fitting very well on defense and offensively we were kind of hit and miss and had some mistakes, and didn’t pass protect very well,” Brixey said. “But that’s also how a football game can go, sometimes you start in the first half and you don’t do some things very well and then you come in at halftime and get it fixed and you go out in the second half and do it better.”
Another three-and-out was turned in by the Brownwood defense as Luke McGinnis recorded a second-down sack and Hudson Fry and Christian Gray teamed up on a third-down sack.
Taking over at the Alvarado 31 after a 17-yard punt, the Lions traveled that distance in five plays, as Buffington – who rushed for 99 yards on 19 carries during the live half – found the end zone again from 1 yard out with 1:56 remaining. Jackson Rainey, Rylan Martin, Layton Greer, Bowen Slack, and Cathan Kinsey led the charge in the trenches during the live half.
“Our running game is going to be hard to stop,” Brixey said. “Our offensive line, we’re young, and the last couple of drives we had two sophomores and three juniors on the offensive line, and a junior and a freshman at tight end. That bodes well for a while, but those kids are growing up, they’re taking pride in what they do, and we’re changing our mindset in Brownwood about what an offensive lineman is. The whole team is taking pride in what our offensive line is doing.”
The Lions did allow Alvarado to move 75 yards in the final minutes as the Indians reached the end zone on a 38-yard scoring toss with 17 seconds remaining for the final seven-point margin.
“Defensively in the live half, there’s not a lot more you can ask for,” Brixey said. “The last drive we relaxed a little bit up 21-7 with just a couple of plays to go and gave up an easy touchdown, and I didn’t like that. I wanted to get that stop and close it out. But to be able to shut them down the way we did at times in that live half was a good sign.”
Among the special teams highlights for the Lions, Aiden Jimenez converted all three of his extra-point attempts and Hudson Deen launched a 73-yard punt that pinned Alvarado at its own 6 yard line.
The Lions kick off the 2026 high school football regular season at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28 at Class 5A Division II Abilene Wylie.
“It was a good night, but there are 10,000 things we can be better at and that’s what we’re going to work on tomorrow, and our goal next Friday when we play Abilene Wylie is to be better than we were tonight,” Brixey said. “We’re in a good place, but we can’t be in the same place next week.”