Roland, swarming La Vega defense roll over Brownwood on the road, 43-0
BROWNWOOD — The La Vega Pirates loaded up their nondistrict schedule with some of the most historically powerful programs in Texas.
But the Pirates showed Friday night that they can still flex a little.
La Vega running back Bryson Roland rushed for three first-half touchdowns and the Pirates defense swarmed the Brownwood Lions all night on the way to a 43-0 victory at Gordon Wood Stadium.
La Vega (2-2) had lost back-to-back games against Celina and West Orange-Stark. So the win over Brownwood was a bounce-back.
"We've played a tough schedule because we expect to be pretty good," La Vega coach Don Hyde said. "This week we committed to getting better every day and our kids did a great job of doing that."
As a freshman in 2021, Roland rushed for more than 300 yards the last time La Vega played Brownwood at Gordon Wood Stadium. Roland said he watched that game, a 49-33 Pirates win, on Hudl on Thursday night for inspiration.
He followed up as a senior by rushing for 144 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries, pacing La Vega's offense as it built up a 22-0 lead by halftime. Roland played just one series in the second half and gave way in favor of some rest and reps for his backups.
"I've got quite a few memories here," Roland said. "It's good. It's early in the season and we've got a lot more games to go."
Roland's three touchdown runs all came in the first half, covering 32, 10 and five yards. While the Pirates' passing game clicked at times as well, especially with QB Jayven Hernandez taking the shotgun snaps, it was Roland's running that kept La Vega moving.
"Our big boys up front did a good job of blocking for him," La Vega coach Don Hyde said. "He's a great running back. He's hard to tackle and he does a great job of finding the creases."
Meanwhile, the Pirate defense bottled up Brownwood. From the Lions' first possession, they couldn't run on the La Vega's front seven and the Pirates' secondary had Brownwood receivers blanketed all night.
The result: La Vega's first shutout win since a 48-0 victory over Dallas Roosevelt on Sept. 22 last year.
Pirates defensive backs Amir Gibson and Warren Richardson Jr. put the exclamation points on the win in the third quarter.
Richardson buried Brownwood quarterback Judson Coalson with a blind-side sack that scuttled a Lions series on third-and-3.
Late in the third quarter, Gibson picked off a Coalson pass and took it back 34 yards for a touchdown and the Pirates' final TD.
"Sometimes as coaches you get set in your ways and get accustomed to doing things a certain way and you look up and you're three games in and you're not very good at what you're doing," Hyde said. "We made some changes and we thought we played a little better tonight. Once again, there's still room for a lot of improvement."
Next up, La Vega will host Stephenville, the No. 1 ranked team in Class 4A Division I, on Friday night at Willie Williams Stadium.
