Four first-half turnovers prevented the Brownwood Lions from owning a halftime advantage, but a dominant defensive effort throughout, particularly in the second half, fueled a 20-10 homecoming victory over the China Spring Cougars Friday night at Gordon Wood Stadium.
Brownwood (2-3) allowed just 117 yards – including 23 over the final two quarters – while the offense produced 317 total yards and did not cough up the ball after halftime as the Lions were eventually able to double up China Spring (1-4).
“Unfortunately, it was probably a better game than it should have been because we kept giving them opportunities and short fields with mistakes fielding the ball in the kicking game, and that’s frustrating,” said Lions first-year head coach Jeryl Brixey. “But to be able to overcome those things and still win the football game, I think that’s a lot to build on.”
Knotted at 10 at halftime, the Lions traveled 66 yards in 13 plays and chewed 7:01 off the clock to start the second half, but Brownwood’s drive stalled at the China Spring 1.
The Cougars moved the ball just 11 yards over the ensuing five plays and were forced into one of their seven punts on the night, which Brownwood’s Raven Prado returned 38 yards to the China Spring 8.
Three plays later, quarterback Judson Coalson – behind the front line of Gustavo Gonzalez, Aidan Packheiser, Rylan Martin, Aviud Gomez and Jackson Rainey – barreled into the end zone from 1 yard out to push the Lions back in front, 17-10, with 45 seconds left in the third period.
“The coaches preach to us about attitude plays and that’s what they said before that play,” Coalson said. “You have to get fired up before those moments and you have to want it, and we wanted it right there way more than them. If you put your nose down and grind, you’re going to get in.”
The Cougars’ ensuing possession ended in three plays and after yet another punt, the Lions journeyed 69 yards in 12 plays, eating another 5:11 off the clock before settling for a 21-yard Eli Valenciano field goal that stretched the lead to double digits, 20-10, with 6:41 left in the contest.
Coalson completed 12 of 18 passes for 243 yards and a touchdown, with Carson Noe grabbing six receptions for 143 yards with a trip to the end zone, while Levi Pearson rushed for 36 yards and Trent Buffington added 31 on the ground.
“Judson threw the ball well tonight and we had some kids step up and make some big catches,” Brixey said. “They’ve been a high cover 2 team so that really wasn’t a big part of our game plan coming in, but they tried to roll down and play man and cover 4 and those are the kinds of things our offense is built to exploit, and we were able to do that and get some things done in the passing game. I’m still frustrated with where our running game is because it’s just us not executing. We did have some good runs, but we have to be much more consistent, and we dang sure have to be consistent inside the 10 yard line.”
The game started with the Lions grabbing a 2-0 lead on a safety just 1:17 into the contest as China Spring lost 26 yards on consecutive errant snaps that resulted in Brownwood’s points.
On the free kick after the safety, the Lions fumbled the ball away at their own 23, and one play later China Spring’s Chrishon Gregory broke free for a touchdown – the Cougars’ longest play of the night – as Brownwood was suddenly in a 7-2 hole just 13 seconds after grabbing the lead. Gregory finished with 70 yards on 18 carries and accounted for 60 percent of China Spring’s yardage output.
The teams traded punts and the score remained 7-2 until Brownwood faced a second-and-11 from its own 19, where Coalson found Noe sprinting behind the defense for an 81-yard scoring strike, and the two-point pass from Coalson to Prado gave the Lions a 10-7 edge with 3:56 left in the first period.
“It was just a blown coverage really, I can’t take much credit,” Noe said. “I was wide open and Judson put a great ball on me and it was off to the races from there.”
Coalson added, “We motioned in and they were all mixed up, so I’m used to just getting to my quick route, but I hung in there a little bit longer and I saw they blew the coverage and I saw Carson wide open. I gave him the ball and I knew once he had it he was gone. It was a great feeling.”
The Lions maintained their 10-7 lead despite turning the ball over three more times before halftime – twice on punt returns and once on a rushing play.
“I promise you we work on that every single day and our two best guys that are normally dead on, you don’t have to get mad at them because they’re madder at themselves than you are, and that’s a good thing,” Brixey said of the fumbling issues.
Noe added, “Football is really just a game of adversity and the team that’s going to succeed is the one that goes through those obstacles instead of around them, and I feel like we pushed through those obstacles and drew up stuff in the second half to get us going, and we succeeded.”
Despite beginning one drive on the Brownwood 37, advancing to the Lion 1 on another, and starting a third at midfield, China Spring over the rest of the first half mustered only a 31-yard field goal from Joseph Dickerson that tied the game at 10 with 2:19 left before halftime, and the Cougars started at the Brownwood 13 after a fumble before being forced to settle for three points.
Christian Gray, who recorded three sacks for the Lions, said of the defense’s performance, “We’re going to play until the game’s over. We’re going to fight our hardest and no matter the circumstances we’re going to keep each other’s spirits lifted. We really played great as a team, our defensive coordinator Coach (Steve) Fanara, he’s just a genius and called some great plays. The whole team chemistry the whole time on the field, we were pumping each other up and not letting any mistakes get in our heads.”
Brixey added, “We played outstanding defensively. Coach Fanara and the defensive staff, they are doing an outstanding job with those kids, and the kids are answering the bell every time it gets rung, they’re back out there getting it done. I don’t know if there’s a record for sacks in a game at Brownwood High School, but we might have got it tonight because we had their quarterback running all over the place. That was a game changer.”
Brinson Martin joined Gray with three sacks on the night.
Regarding the Lions’ ability to avoid numerous landmines they created for themselves with turnovers Friday night, Brixey said, “Going all the way back to Wylie I said what I wanted to see that game was us play our guts out for 48 minutes, and you’ve seen that now for five weeks. It’s what our kids do, and when you do that you give yourself a chance to win football games.”
Next week, the Lions conclude the pre-district portion of their schedule as, for the second year in a row, they battle the Ingleside Mustangs in a neutral site contest. Kickoff between the Lions and District 15-4A Division II representative Ingleside (2-3), which suffered a 54-0 loss to Corpus Christi Ray Thursday night, will be at 7 p.m. Friday at Smithson Valley.
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Brownwood 20, China Spring 10
SCORE BY QUARTERS
| China Spring | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | – 10 |
| Brownwood | 10 | 0 | 7 | 3 | – 20 |
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SCORING SUMMARY
B: Safety – Brycen Collard falls on fumbled snap in end zone, 10:43, 1st
C: Chrison Gregory 23 run (Joseph Dickerson kick), 10:30, 1st
B: Carson Noe 81 pass from Judson Coalson (Raven Prado pass from Coalson), 3:56, 1st
C: Dickerson 31 FG, 2:19 2nd
B: Coalson 1 run (Eli Valenciano kick), 0:45, 3rd
B: Valenciano 21 FG, 6:41, 4th
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| TEAM STATS | C | B |
| First Downs | 6 | 16 |
| Total Offense | 117 | 317 |
| Rushes-Yards | 38-67 | 35-74 |
| Passing Yards | 50 | 243 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 6-12-0 | 12-18-0 |
| Fumbles Lost | 0 | 4 |
| Penalties-Yards | 8-63 | 3-30 |
| Punts-Average | 7-35.4 | 2-29.5 |
***
PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: C – Chrison Gregory 18-70, TD; Ryan Hale 8-44; Bryce Collard 10-(-11), Team 2-(-36). B – Levi Pearson 12-36; Trent Buffington 16-31; Daylyn Ansons 2-6; Carson Noe 1-6; Robbie Robinson 1-4; Judson Coalson 3-(-9), TD.
PASSING: C – Collard 5-11-0-46; Hale 1-1-0-4. B – Coalson 12-18-0-243, TD.
RECEIVING: C – Jaxson Bryant 4-27; Benjamin Bolton 1-18; Jakoby Bledsoe 1-5. B – Noe 6-143, TD; Connor Cornelius 2-47; Robinson 2-28; Grant Gray 1-15, Raven Prado 1-10.
KICKING: B – Eli Valenciano 1 of 1 PATs. 1 of 1 FGs – long of 21
2 punts, 59 yards, 29.5 average – 0 inside 20