Burnet football loses to Brownwood
CAPTION: Burnet senior Riley Howell blocks for junior Lyndon Harycki during the loss to Brownwood Oct. 24. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
The Burnet High School football team lost to Brownwood 38-7 Oct. 24 in District 24-4A play.
The contest didn’t start that way as the Bulldogs (3-6, 1-2) scored on their opening drive, covering 79 yards in 10 plays hightailed by junior quarterback Bryan Johnson’s seven-yard touchdown run for the 7-0 advantage.
But on the kickoff, Raven Prado got the Lions (5-3, 2-0) started quickly as he took the ball 95 yards to pay dirt that jumpstarted 38 unanswered points. Brownwood’s two-point conversion was no good, allowing Burnet to keep the 7-6 lead, which was the score at the end of the first quarter.
“That was tough cause we just took the ball, marched it right down the field, and chewed about 6 minutes off the clock,” Burnet head coach Ben Speer said. “We just ran the ball right down the field and scored a touchdown, and you’re like ‘all right, feel confident’ and then you kick it off and they return it. All that confidence just goes out the door. You just lost all the momentum you gained right there and the confidence in that drive. And we still went out on offense, got the ball, started moving it again.”
Brownwood took the lead in the second quarter when Carson Noe caught an eight-yard touchdown pass from Judson Coalson then hit Prado on the two-point pass to complete a five-play, 51-yard drive. The Lions used a 17-yard Burnet punt for the field position.
The Lions added 10 more points in the final 10 minutes of the first half.
The next touchdown came on a 72-yard interception that was returned for a touchdown by Wyatt Wolf with 3:45 remaining in the second stanza. Eli Valenciano connected on a 32-yard field goal for a 24-7 lead at the intermission.
Levi Pearson scored on a two-yard run to cap a 27-yard drive thanks to another solid Prado return with about 5 minutes left in the third quarter.
Brinson Martin caught a five-yard touchdown from Coalson midway through the fourth period to end the scoring.
The Bulldogs had less than 90 yards of total offense after their scoring drive.
Burnet had 39 rushes for 120 yards. Johnson led with 13 carries for 51 yards and a touchdown, while senior running back Peyton Lopez had 16 rushes for 37 yards, while senior running back Josiah Coronado had a 24-yard run, and senior Trevin Park had three carries for 11 yards.
Sophomore quarterback Fisher Powell completed 7 of 13 passes for 47 yards. Park caught two passes for 16 yards and senior receiver Cohen Jorpeland had two receptions for 14 yards.
“I thought Fisher had one of his best games,” Speer said. “You can’t see it stat wise. He had three or four big drops by guys and you just can’t do that with a sophomore quarterback, who’s doing the best he can to get the ball to you and we’re dropping the ball on several of those that would have extended drives. It’s tough, tough bad timing.”
Speer noted the Bulldogs weren’t at full strength and needed athletes to play on offense and defense. Brownwood recognized that, too, he said.
“All the things you worked on the whole week, it just goes ‘whoop – right out the door,'” he said. “I think when they saw … we were down backs and then we were getting gassed because (Bulldogs) were having to play both ways — it was getting thin — and they started loading the box.”
The Lions had 224 yards of total offense. Coalson completed 11 of 18 passes for 116 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Pearson had 10 rushes for 63 yards and a score. Noe had three catches for 47 yards and a score.
Brownwood doesn’t rely on some of the same Lions to play both ways. That allows athletes to rest in between series.
“It’s one thing to have talent,” the coach said. “But you also have to have multiple talents. And then you have to have backups that can come in and finish the game or just the numbers for practice purposes. All those things feed into who they are. The depth is crucial at this point. (Teams) might have one guy that splits time time here or there on defense, but that’s not going both ways. We have a couple of plays with this defensive back. He can come over here and run these routes because he’s a real fast kid. Or we have a goal-line play that we use our (middle) linebacker as a lead blocker. But that’s not playing both ways.”
The Bulldogs are on a bye next week as they have two weeks to prepare for a road trip to Stephenville, the No. 2 team in Class 4A Division I. The Yellowjackets (8-0, 3-0) beat Lampasas 49-7 Oct. 24.
“You try to stay healthy through that, you still want to compete,” Speer said. “But you have to play smart, too. We went to a four-man front this week to help relieve some of the linebackers. We’re trying to relieve our linebackers cause it fit better with the personnel we have. You have to have others step up. Some of these guys think they earned the right to go out and play on Friday nights. This is their change to show that and prove to everyone else they can do this. On a bye week, you don’t necessarily take it off. We’ve got to get better at certain things. And we’ve got to get healthy going into the playoffs.”
CAPTION: The Burnet defense makes another stand against the Brownwood Lions. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
