COLLEGE STATION – A two-hour lightning delay and a pair of overtime games before their first and final contests resulted in the Brownwood Lions being caught in a second weather delay Thursday afternoon at Veterans Park and Athletic Complex before Pool A action was halted at the 7-on-7 Division II state tournament.
The second weather delay hit at halftime of the Lions’ finale against Kilgore, which was called at intermission with Brownwood trailing 14-7. Earlier in the day the Lions fell to Bay City, 27-0, and Austin LBJ, 27-6, as Brownwood will enter Friday’s single elimination championship bracket as a No. 4 seed. The three teams the Lions faced Thursday combined for a 36-6 record in the fall of 2024, with Kilgore playing for the Class 4A Division I state championship.
Brownwood scored on just 2 of 14 offensive possessions Thursday as quarterback Judson Coalson connected on 29 of 53 pass attempts with a pair of touchdowns – one to Sirr Beam against LBJ and the other to Grant Gray, who made his summer debut, against Kilgore.
Beam and Gray each caught five passes, as did Aaron Edmonds and Conner Cornelius. Carson Noe added four receptions, Raven Prado and Levi Pearson grabbed two each out of the backfield, and KeShaun White hauled in a catch as well.
“I felt like we struggled offensively against 2 man, and I know we’re going to because that’s the vaunted 7-on-7 defense that we will see zero times in the coming year,” said Lions head coach Jeryl Brixey. “You can spend time trying to teach how to beat that stuff, but to me that’s not a pay off to where we’re trying to get in the fall.”
Defensively, the Lions yielded touchdowns on 10 of the opponents’ 14 possessions and did not record an interception.
“Bay City caught every ball that came close to them, they had a good morning, and it was the first game and we tend to struggle with those,” Brixey said. “That’s something we need to work on. We played a little better in the second game and unfortunately we didn’t get to finish this last game. Kilgore was 2-0 but we were really battling them. They thought Nick Rodriguez was going to be somebody they could pick on with their stud receiver, but Nick just kept making plays. I felt like we were battling and the kids were fighting hard and getting back into it.”
The Lions begin bracket play at 8:45 a.m. Friday against Pool E Champion Tyler Chapel Hill, which defeated Columbia, 28-25; Jarrell, 27-18; and Midland Christian, 24-20, on Thursday. In the 2024 football season, Tyler Chapel Hill finish with a 10-4 record out of District 9-4A Division I.
“I’d like to see us come out a little better to start the morning and not have to wake up,” said Brixey, as the Lions’ first game at three 7-on-7 tournaments this summer have provided their share of offensive struggles. “I’d like to see us throw and catch the ball a little bit better than we did today. We had several (seven) four-second calls and we have to get the ball in the air and go make plays.”