The Brownwood Lions are riding a wave of positive momentum from a three-game win streak, including a victory over then-undefeated Lampasas in the league opener, into the their second District 4-4A Division I contest against the Burnet Bulldogs.

Kickoff between the Lions (4-3, 1-0) and Bulldogs (3-5, 1-1) is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday in Burnet.

The Brownwood-Burnet series has featured several close contests, but the Lions won have the last 10 in a row, though the average margin of victory has been just 8 points, with five of those contests being decided by a touchdown or less. In each of the last three meetings, the Lions had to overcome deficits to secure the victory, including a 31-30 overtime home triumph in 2024.

Burnet is coming off a 28-23 loss to Lampasas (7-1) Friday night after opening league play with a 35-14 triumph over Marble Falls (3-5, 0-2).

“They had a chance at the end to get an outside kick and maybe go down and win the game, but they didn’t get that kick,” Lions first-year head coach Jeryl Brixey said of Burnet’s performance in the Lampasas contest. “Their No. 1 running back didn’t play but their starting inside linebacker, they use him kind of like a wildcat back, and he ran the ball really well against Lampasas.”

For the season, the Bulldogs average 23 points and 292 yards – 204 rushing and 88 passing – per game, with 10 turnovers, including nine interceptions.

The ground game is anchored by Josiah Coronado (687 rushing yards, 5 TDs), who missed the Lampasas game, as Bryan Johnson (553 rushing yards, 14 TDs) filled in and finished with 176 yards on the ground and three touchdowns against the Badgers. Peyton Lopez (228 rushing yards, 1 TD) has also been a weapon out of the backfield.

Through the air, Fisher Powell (46 of 104 for 577 yards, 5 TDs, 8 INTs) has seen the most time behind center along with Johnson (8 of 20 for 86 yards) and Charles Edwards (7 of 15 for 47, 1 INT), as the Bulldogs are connecting on just 43 percent of their pass attempts as a team.

Leading receivers include Matthew Williams (26-477, 4 TDs), Cohen Jorpeland (9-74, TD), Demetrius Taliaferro (6-45), and Trevin Park (6-43).

While the strength of the Burnet offense has been its rushing attack, Brownwood’s run defense has been stellar for the most part this season, with an exception being Lampasas’ fourth-quarter drive that resulted in the Badgers taking a 39-34 lead with 2:11 left.

“Offensively, Burnet’s going to run the football,” Brixey said. “They’ll throw it some, and they’re in spread formations, but they’ll have a tight end or two tight ends and they’re going to challenge us by running the football. If you go back to what we struggled with two weeks ago, that was stopping the run late in the game especially. Their coaches watch video, too, so I’m sure their attitude coming into the game will be seeing if they can run the football and we have to answer that bell.”

For the season, the Lions yield 25 points and 247 yards – 136 through the air and 111 on the ground – on average, with 17 takeaways, including 10 interceptions.

Standouts for Brownwood’s defense include Brinson Martin (54 tackles, 7 for loss, 3.5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery), Caven Webster (46.5 tackles, 2 interceptions), Wyatt Wolf (42 tackles, 2 interceptions), Christian Gray (37 tackles, 6 for loss, 5.5 sacks), Durham Brown (33.5 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 fumble recovery), Isaac Gonzales (32 tackles, 1 for loss, 2.5 sacks) Nick Rodriguez (22 tackles, 1 for loss, 3 interceptions), Sirr Beam (21.5 tackles, 1 for loss, 2 interceptions, 1 fumble recovery), Raul Eberhardt (18 tackles, 1 for loss, 2 sacks, 1 fumble recovery), Raven Prado (12.5 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 punt block, 2 fumble recoveries).

The Burnet defense gives up 24 points per game, but has created 13 takeaways – eight fumble recoveries and five interceptions – and tallied 12.5 sacks.

Leading the charge for the Bulldogs are Adler Goehring (87 tackles, 1 for loss), Park (66 tackles, 4 for loss, 1 fumble recovery), Cason O’Hair (63 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 interception), Johnson (53 tackles, 4 for loss, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery), Rigo Valdez (52 tackles, 12 for loss, 3 sacks, 1 interception, 1 fumble recoveries), Alex Perez (50 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack, 2 fumble recoveries), and Riley Howell (49 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery).

The Lions generated a season-best 428 total yards – 295 passing and 133 rushing – against Lampasas last week, and over the past two outings the Brownwood offense is averaging 52 points per game.

Behind the front line of Gustavo Gonzalez, Aidan Packheisier, Aviud Gomez, Jackson Rainey and Rylan Martin, Brownwood generates an average of 26 points and 265 yards – 164 passing and 101 rushing – per outing, having coughed up the ball 17 times on the season, with 11 of those being fumbles.

Quarterback Judson Coalson (64 of 109 for 1,150 yards, 14 TDs, 5 INTs) has thrown 10 touchdown passes over the last two games, while Carson Noe (33-638, 8 TDs receiving; 19 rushing yards, TD; 75-yard kick return TD) has crossed the goal line eight times in the past two contests.

Other offensive standouts include running backs Trent Buffington (338 rushing yards, 4 TDs) and Levi Pearson (336 rushing yards, 1 TD), and receivers Connor Cornelius (8-146, 3 TDs), Grant Gray (5-144, 2 TDs) and Prado (5-63).

“Burnet runs an odd defense, a 3-4, and they’ll play a little bit of a split front out of that, but they’re pretty standard in the 3-4 with corners coverage and then cover 3 behind it,” Brixey said. “They know what they’re doing, they play hard and get after it. We have to continue to do the things we’ve been doing offensively and continue to improve. We talked about incremental improvements, but we’ve also talked about, and they understand, how much those turnovers impacted us two weeks ago. We had some fumbled snaps that weren’t turnovers, but were still drive killers, and those are things that have to go away.”

According to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, the Lions are a 5-point favorite, while Harris Ratings Weekly lists Brownwood as an 8-point favorite.