The Brownwood Lions are headed back to the playoffs for an 18th consecutive season after overwhelming the Waco Connally Cadets 66-7 Friday night. The victory, combined with Salado’s 30-13 win over Gatesville, set up a decisive regular-season finale between Brownwood and Salado.

Brownwood improved to 4-5 overall and 2-2 in District 13-4A Division II, while Connally fell to 0-9 overall and 0-4 in district play. The Lions will host Salado at 7 p.m. next Friday at Gordon Wood Stadium in a game that will determine the district’s No. 3 and No. 4 playoff seeds.

Finale will determine playoff seeding

The winner of the Brownwood-Salado matchup will earn the district’s third seed and will likely face Lago Vista in the opening round. Lago Vista is 7-2 overall and 3-1 in District 14. The loser will likely meet Wimberley, the District 14 front-runner, which is 9-0 overall and 3-0 in district play.

Brownwood second-year head coach Jeryl Brixey said Salado presents a serious challenge in the final game.

“Salado’s a good football team, they played Robinson about like we did, so I think it’s going to be a tight match-up and we have to have a great week of practice and play really well to beat them,”

The game against Salado will be Brownwood’s first opportunity in 2026 to win three consecutive games. The Lions’ back-to-back victories over Connally and their previous opponent marked their first consecutive wins of the season.

Brownwood dominated from the opening quarter

The Lions led 53-0 at halftime after scoring four touchdowns in the first quarter, three more touchdowns in the second quarter and a field goal. Brownwood finished with 417 yards of total offense, including 306 rushing yards.

Trent Buffington rushed for 111 yards and three touchdowns in the first half. His third touchdown was the 14th of his season and pushed his rushing total to 1,096 yards. Ezra House added 171 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the second half, including an 88-yard run during a three-play, 90-yard scoring drive. House finished the season’s total cited in the report with 396 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

Riggs Gray completed five of nine passes for 92 yards and three touchdowns, all before halftime. He threw scoring passes of seven and 45 yards to Conner Cornelius and a 14-yard touchdown pass to Jack Bauchman.

Brownwood opened the scoring when Isaac Gonzales finished a seven-play drive with a 10-yard touchdown run. He also added a two-point conversion carry for an 8-0 lead with 6:58 remaining in the first quarter.

A bad Connally punt snap gave Brownwood possession at the Cadets’ 9-yard line, and Buffington scored two plays later. Wyatt Wolf then returned a Connally punt 54 yards after a 31-yard return, setting up Bauchman’s touchdown catch. The Lions led 29-0 after one quarter.

Defense forced three turnovers

Brownwood’s defense held Connally to 131 total yards and only 37 rushing yards on 19 carries. The Lions forced three turnovers and made nine punts during the game.

Hutton Malone intercepted Connally quarterback KD Linville on the Cadets’ opening possession at the Connally 48-yard line. The interception was Malone’s fifth takeaway of the season and came in his return to the starting lineup after a multi-week absence.

Aiden Jimenez recovered a muffed punt return, while JV call-up Owen Oplotnik recovered a loose ball inside the Connally 10 after the ball was knocked free on a kickoff return. Jimenez later recovered another Connally fumbled punt at the Cadets’ 25 with 10:32 remaining, though Brownwood did not score on that possession.

At halftime, Connally had gained only 24 yards, including minus-15 rushing yards. Brownwood did not play its starters in the second half, allowing younger players and recent JV call-ups to take the field.

“A lot of kids got to play a lot of football tonight, some under the varsity lights for the first time, and they did some good things and not so good things,” Brixey said.

Connally finally scored on the game’s last play, when Linville connected with Dreydon Burns for a 26-yard touchdown pass after Brownwood’s only turnover, a fumble.

Brixey said Brownwood moved eight players up from the JV during the week because Connally had only one under-level team. Those players joined other reserve and varsity players in the second half as Brownwood evaluated its younger players before the seeding game against Salado.