GODLEY – Through 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime, the Brownwood Lions and Lake Worth Bullfrogs were deadlocked at a goal apiece. With a penalty kick shootout set to the decide the Class 4A Division II Region I area soccer championship, the Lions converted all five of their attempts, while Hudson Fry tallied one save in goal, which proved to be the difference in a Brownwood victory.

“It’s a plethora of emotions right now,” said Lions head coach Michael Westerman. “We constantly dealt with a ton of adversity from the very beginning of the game to the very end, and constantly had to respond. Games like these are where the true character of our team will be revealed and I’m just extremely proud of the boys for responding to the adversity. It felt like we were the better team, but it also felt like nothing was going our way, and the game goes like that. We understand we can only control what’s in our control and try and stay focused on that.”

The Lions (14-1-2), who defeated Lake Worth (13-11-2) by a 2-0 count at Gordon Wood Stadium on March 12 in a playoff warm-up outing, extended their unbeaten streak to 15 matches while qualifying for the third round of the playoffs for the second year in a row.

“We’re continuing to build the standard of this program and what the expectations are,” Westerman said. “We want to normalize these kinds of things, making the playoffs, being a top seed, making it through the first and second rounds, and instilling that sense of self of believe in each other, the team and the program. The ultimate goal is to be the best in the state and we’ll never stop working until we achieve that. The boys are learning that is the expectation.”

Brownwood defeated both Lampasas and Stephenville in PK shootouts once District 5-4A action started, which gave Westerman plenty of confidence after neither team was able to score in overtime.

“We’ve been fortunate enough to be on the better side of the PK shootouts, and I can’t reiterate enough how much we practice the PKs and how much trust we have not only in our shooters, but in Hudson Fry,” Westerman said. “I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it, I think we have the best goal keeper in the state of Texas, and the best PK takers as well. They were both able to step up and do their jobs and we were able to come out on top.”

The PK shootout began with each team making a goal, as Aiden Jimenez was able to answer Lake Worth’s opening shot. Fry then came away with a save on Lake Worth’s second attempt, while Eli Valenciano scored for Brownwood to give the Lions the edge. While the Bullfrogs were able to convert their last three goals, so were Alex Vaquera, Jermiah Chacon and eventually Isaac Morales with the game-winner for the Lions.

Just 7:03 into Tuesday’s contest, however, the Lions found themselves in a 1-0 hole.

“The guy that scored, we knew that was their danger man and we knew he would run straight down the pipe against us,” Westerman said. “We had a game plan where we played two sixes with two defensive mids and formulated a box that combined with our center backs to cause more traffic in the middle of the field, but he was able to split that and find the back of the net. So what we had game planned against him, he completely exposed and that was very frustrating. But that was the wake up call for us because he didn’t have that kind of success the rest of the game.”

Trailing 1-0 at halftime, the Lions needed just 4:42 of the second half before Morales was able to even the score off a corner kick from Valenciano.

“Isaac Morales constantly continues to step us for us,” Westerman said. “He’s a phenomenal kid, extremely talented, he does a lot on the ball for us, and we ask a lot of him as well. We were able to play short on a corner, which isn’t a play that we typically have, but it was there and we trust him when he has any bit of space in and around the ball and he was able to find the top of the net.”

The Lions will next face El Paso Bowie (22-4) – a 3-2 winner over Pampa Tuesday night – in the Class 4A Division II Region I semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa.