Burnet football loses to Lampasas
CAPTION: Burnet junior quarterback Bryan Johnson was the main offensive worker for the Bulldogs during the loss to Lampasas Oct. 17. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
The Burnet High School football team lost to Lampasas 28-23 Oct. 17 in District 4-4A Division I play.
Trailing 28-17 entering the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs (3-5, 1-1) began the drive on their two-yard line and leaned heavily on junior quarterback Bryan Johnson. On third and 12 from the Burnet 47-yard line, Johnson rolled right and threw an out pass that was batted straight up and caught by senior receiver Cohen Jorpeland for a 23-yard completion. It was Jorpeland’s only catch during the contest.
On first and 10 from the Lampasas (7-1, 1-1) 19-yard line, sophomore quarterback Fisher Powell handed the ball to Johnson, who took a couple of steps backward as he looked down field. Then he turned to his left and saw Powell open in the flat for the nine-yard completion.
Johnson completed the drive with a 19-yard touchdown run, his third of the contest, with two minutes left. Burnet elected to go for two on a running play, and the Badgers held.
But the Bulldogs weren’t done. Senior kicker Marco Campos performed an onside kick that went through two Badgers and was recovered by senior Trevin Park with 2:56 left in the contest.
From the Lampasas 47-yard line, Johnson picked up four yards and lost a yard all in the Wild Bulldog. On third and six, Johnson attempted a pass on a seam route in a tight window that went incomplete. On fourth and six, the Badgers called a timeout. After that, Burnet was called for a false start that moved the Bulldogs back to the Badgers’ 49-yard line to make it fourth and 11 with 1:55 remaining.
A pass fell just short of the receiver, who dived for it as he was defended by two Badgers with 1:50 left in the contest, allowing Lampasas to run out the clock and secure the win.
“I was proud of our kids, man, ,ust how they fought with so much heart,” Burnet head coach Ben Speer said. “And I think anybody that watched that game walked away knowing we might have been outmanned. But you can tell there was a lot of fight and a lot of heart out there from our kids and proud of our coaches. We had to change a lot of things at half and switched some things up and come back out the second half and got a shot to win it. And that just speaks volumes of them as well.”
Lampasas led from the start thanks to completing a nine-yard touchdown pass to senior athlete K.J. Reed from senior Bryson Roberts midway through the first quarter.
Campos connected on a 40-yard field goal to trim the deficit to 7-3 after the opening stanza.
Lampasas running back Wesley Stephens added to the lead thanks to a four-yard run to paydirs for the 14-7 advantage with 9:49 left in the half.
Burnet senior kick returner Matthew Williams set up the offense on the Badgers’ 49-yard line thanks to a 45-yard kickoff return. Johnson scored on a 41-yard touchdown run on fourth and two to complete the four-play drive and trim the deficit to 14-10 with about 8 minutes remaining.
The Bulldogs forced a punt and took over on their own 30-yard line. But a high snap forced the quarterback to jump up and catch the ball then run to his right. Just as it looked like he was about to get tackled, Lampasas senior defensive back Sean Smith stripped the ball to cause and recover the fumble.
That set Lampasas up at the Burnet 12-yard line. Two plays later senior receiver Jaden McElwain caught the eight-yard pass from Roberts for the 21-10 advantage with 3:30 left in the second quarter.
But Burnet responded with an eight-play, 63-yard drive that ended when Johnson bullied his way into the end zone from a yard out to trim the deficit to 21-17 at the half. The key play was a 47-yard Johnson run to set up first and goal on the Lampasas 3.
The Badgers scored the only touchdown of the third quarter when senior receiver Shawn Roberts caught the 10-yard pass from Bryson Roberts and the 28-17 advantage going into the final stanza.
Johnson finished the game with 30 rushes for 176 yards and three touchdowns and completed 3 of 5 passes for 41 yards. His natural abilities allow him to be used in a variety of ways, Speer said.
“It doesn’t make you less explosive, it just it puts strain on everything else,” he said. “Bryan’s a home run hitter if you put him in the right situation, but he plays a lot of defense and he’s a great defensive player. And it’s hard because you gotta balance those things because then you’re down a back and then he’s got to play more in the backfield, and then you’re trying to rob Peter. And it’s hard when it’s a numbers game, when it gets down to it.”
Burnet senior running back Peyton Lopez had nine rushes for 27 yards and sophomore quarterback Fisher Powell had two carries for six yards. Williams had three receptions for 23 yards.
Burnet had 264 yards of total offense with 209 coming from its rushing attack. The Bulldogs were 6 of 13 on third down.
“Peyton did well when he had the opportunity to run the ball,” the coach said. “Matt did well while he was in.”
Lampasas had 330 yards of total offense with 235 on the ground and 95 through the air. The Badgers were 5 of 8 on third down.
The Bulldogs were without three of their statistical leaders with one exiting in the first half and the other two not suiting up.
“When it gets to October and you’re in late October, you’re going to have injuries and everybody does,” Speer said. “You can sit on those excuses or you can find ways to get other kids involved and have kids step up. And the biggest thing you can take away is no matter the injuries that we’ve had this year we’ve seen kids step up. Some kids we knew could do it and some kids you look out there, and you’re like ‘I didn’t think they could do that. But look at them now.’ That was just going to be an uphill battle for us. We had other kids step up. We still had a chance to win. That’s just credit to our kids. And they’re fighting, they just fought their tails off. And there was never a doubt, even with those guys out, there was never a doubt that they thought they could win the game.”
He couldn’t commend the Bulldogs enough for their efforts and belief and for mentally and physically being ready to go, adding that when opportunities came for others to contribute, they were ready.
“And it was good to see those guys step up,” the coach said. “We get a little thin and have some of those shared spots with running back and also share some of those things with the linebacker positions. We have guys being on the field a lot. It puts a little strain on things, but you wouldn’t have known it by watching the game. And I was proud of our boys, proud of the crowd. We had a great turnout. And they were loud, and it was it was a flowing atmosphere as always. There’s a lot to be proud of going there going forward.”
Burnet will welcome Brownwood at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24, to Bulldog Field. The program will honor its seniors before kickoff.
“(The Lampasas game is) a loss in the district,” Speer said. “You don’t like it in a game that you had a chance to win, but not a whole lot of times to lick your wounds – you gotta get right back in it. And you got an opportunity to play another team. It’ll be the last time for these seniors to play at Bulldog Field, so you got a good team coming in Brownwood, and it’s going to be another competitive game.”
CAPTION: Burnet offensive linemen Dallas Schweizer (left), Adam Heffington, Mason Roberts and Kalvin Hubbard helped the Bulldogs run for more than 200 yards against the Badgers. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
