Burnet football traveling to play at Lampasas
CAPTION: The Burnet offense is packing confidence in its rushing attack thanks to senior running back Josiah Coronado (left) and the offensive line. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
The Burnet High School football team is taking its momentum on the road to play at Lampasas at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17.
The momentum is from the Bulldogs’ (3-4, 1-0) District 4-4A Division I opening victory against the Marble Falls Mustangs 35-14 last week.
The Badgers (6-1, 0-1) lost to Brownwood 42-39 on the same night in a contest they led 14-7 after the first quarter, trailed 21-20 at the half, and 34-26 going into the final stanza.
Lampasas erased the deficit by covering 60 yards in 10 plays that ended when Senior quarterback Bryson Roberts hit senior receiver Jaden McEwain on an 18-yard pass for a 39-34 lead with 2 minutes and 11 seconds remaining in the contest.
The Lions began what turned out to be the game-winning drive, going 81 yards in 11 plays that ended when Judson Coalson threw to Carson Noe on a seven-yard touchdown with 18 seconds left in the game. That was passing touchdown was No. 5 for Coalson and the scoring touchdown No. 5 for Noe.
“It was such a close game,” Burnet head coach Ben Speer said. “But I think Brownwood is really starting to figure some things out. And Lampasas has played well enough to win their games, and they’ve played in a lot of close games as well.”
He pointed out the youth starting for the Badgers, including two sophomore offensive linemen and at receiver, who have been applying what they’ve learned throughout the season.
“They’re pretty young up front young as in not very experienced, but I think they do well,” the coach said. “They do a good job. They’re big and they’re trying to be physical.”
Roberts, a two-year letterman, has completed 109 of 182 passes for 1,613 yards, 17 touchdowns and seven interceptions and has 64 carries for 271 yards and two scores.
“I think he’s a good quarterback,” Speer said. “He’s very athletic, he does throw the ball decisively. They’re very good at spreading it out on the sides and getting it to those guys and running on the screens.”
Senior athlete K.J. Reed has 103 carries for 711 yards and has nine receptions for 86 yards and a score.
“He’s a hard runner,” Speer said.
Senior running Wesley Stephens has 78 rushes for 565 yards and three touchdowns and four catches for 15 yards. McElwain has seven carries for 158 yards and 31 receptions for 484 yards and five scores.
Burnet will counter with senior linebacker Adler Goehring, who has 87 tackles and two quarterback hurries, senior safety Trevin Park, who has 56 tackles and two pass deflections, senior Cason O’Hair, who has 54 tackles, a quarterback hurry, interception, caused fumble and four pass deflections, senior defensive end Riley Howell, who has 44 tackles, 4.5 sacks and six quarterback hurries, and junior linebacker Rigo Valdez has two fumble recoveries and a 28-yard interception.
Defensively, the Badgers operate the 3-3 stack led by junior defensive back Jonathan Bowling, who has 67 tackles, an interception, fumble recovery and a pass breakup, senior safety Aaron Everts, who has 60 tackles, two fumble recoveries and four pass deflections, and senior linebacker Tate Langford, who has 59 tackles, 4.5 sacks, nine quarterback hurries, an interception and two fumble recoveries.
“That’s who they are, what they do,” the coach said. “I’m guessing that they’ll probably man us up outside and try to force us to throw the ball a little bit more, to put more in the box to stop the gun. We’ve got to be ready for that and work on that. Guys got to get the releases and work, and we have to be sound up front, and hopefully we can control the ball and run at them. What we’ve been able to do the last two weeks is really lean on offensive alignment in our backs and use that to score points and close out games.”
The power run attack is led by senior running back Josiah Coronado, who has 115 carries for 687 yards and five scores, junior quarterback Bryan Johnson, who has 45 rushes for 377 yards and 10 scores, and senior running back Peyton Lopez, who has 40 carries for 261 yards and a touchdown.
“You start to see some things here and there that start clicking for some people,” Speer said. “Whether it’s personnel or plays, play selection or packages or formation. They really kind of start figuring out who they are. I think there’s a confidence and then the offensive line just believes in the guys running the ball, especially Josiah and knowing he’s back there. They know that they’re going to get his max effort every time. I think that just encourages them even more to go out and play harder and try to get him any crease or anything. That way they can go and finish things up.”
Sophomore quarterback Fisher Powell has completed 44 of 97 passes for 563 yards, five touchdowns and eight interceptions and has 19 carries for 40 yards and a score. Senior receiver Matthew Williams has 23 receptions for 454 yards and four scores.
Speer said the offensive unit is applying what it has learned the last several weeks and is reaping the benefits now.
“And plus we’ve got some people back, who’ve been injured,” he said. “That’s helped, so it’s just constant moving pieces on that side. It’s great when the offense just feels settled down, but you really just settle down the second half, knowing ‘hey, this is what we can do, we don’t have to be fancy and let’s just go get out there and you get out of here with a win,’ and that was good.”
The Bulldogs are looking to end a couple of streaks against the Badgers. The first is an eight-game losing streak. The last time Burnet beat Lampasas was in 2016, a 42-7 victory in Badger head coach Troy Rogers’ first year. The other streak is four consecutive Burnet losses in Lampasas. Burnet’s last win in Badger Stadium was in 2015, 41-28.
But the Bulldogs came close a year ago. Burnet led 35-31 going into the fourth quarter. With about five minutes left, McElwain caught a 41-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Reed Jerome, who graduated, for the 42-38 lead.
Burnet had the ball at midfield and turned it over on downs.
“Definitely home field advantage over there for them,” Speer said. “But you know, it’s a neat little atmosphere, and I think they make it very unique. We can do it, we can get it this year. Last year, we had a chance to do it, and we had the ball driving down to go in to score the winning touchdown, and we fumbled a snap. That put way back behind the chains. And we couldn’t recover and turned it over on downs and they ran out the clock for about two minutes left. It was back and forth there for a while, we were leading, I think at half, too (24-21). There were a lot of the kids who were a part of that game. So I think they’re encouraged and excited about getting that first win out of the way and the rival game is out of the way, it’s done, it’s in the past, we won it. And those are all good things, but now it’s focused on what’s ahead of us. And the pressure’s on (Lampasas). Really excited about us going forward, and hopefully we can stay healthy and take care of things and be in a position to go win it again in the fourth quarter tomorrow night.”
CAPTION: Burnet junior quarterback Bryan Johnson is another powerful runner for the Bulldogs. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
