Burnet football loses to Stephenville

Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography

The Burnet High School football team lost to Stephenville 49-0 Nov. 7.

The Bulldogs (3-7, 1-3 District 4-4A Division I third place) now begin preparations for a rematch with Andrews (5-5, 3-0 District 3-4A Division I champion) at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14, at San Angelo Stadium, 1919 Knickerbocker Road in San Angelo. Andrews defeated Burnet 35-21 in the first round a year ago.

“(Stephenville head coach Sterling) Doty does a great job with those guys,” Burnet head coach Ben Speer said. “I know a lot of coaches say, ‘I could be a great coach, too, if I had all that talent.’ Maybe, but you still have to get them to play together as a team and get them to buy in. It’s your single goal, and I think he’s done that pretty well. They’re a great group.

“But I was really, really proud of our boys,” he added. “They battled. They came out, and there was no quit, there was no backing off. There is no calling off the dogs. They went toe-to-toe with them for a good duration of the game.”

Stephenville didn’t score until its second offensive possession on a drive that ended when junior receiver Adan Jergins caught a three-yard pass from junior quarterback Trot Jordan for the 7-0 lead with about three minutes left in the first stanza.

Then the Yellow Jackets (10-0, 4-0) scored three touchdowns in the second quarter: a one-yard run by junior running back Tyler McClendon, a 15-yard Jordan run and a 20-yard passing touchdown to Jergins from Jordan for the 28-0 half-time advantage.

Stephenville added two more scores in the third period: a 33-yard run by McClendon and a 52-yard passing touchdown to freshman Caden Monk from Jordan for the 42-0 lead going into the final stanza.

Senior Tristan Gomez ended the scoring on a one-yard run with a minute left in the game.

The Yellowjackets had 442 yards of total offense thanks to 27 rushes for 178 yards and three touchdowns.

Jordan completed 14 of 20 passes for 222 yards and three touchdowns and had four rushes for 53 yards and a score. McClendon had 13 rushes for 120 yards and two touchdowns and caught three passes for 48 yards. Jergins finished with six receptions for 82 yards and two scores, while Monk had three catches for 65 yards and a touchdown.

Burnet had 124 yards of total offense led by senior running back Peyton Lopez’s 16 carries for 64 yards and freshman Ethan Sanchez had five rushes for 14 yards and caught a seven-yard pass.

Sophomore quarterback Fisher Powell completed 9 of 14 passes for 60 yards and junior Calan Syphrett had six receptions for 35 yards, while senior receiver Cohen Jorpeland had a 12-yard catch and senior Trevin Park had a six-yard reception.

“I was just so proud of our kids,” Speer said. “It didn’t matter the size of (Stephenville) or what they were doing. All they knew was to compete and go hard, and they did it for 48 minutes. That’s what I asked them to do was play their guts out for as long as possible and take the next step and get better.”

The Bulldogs weren’t at full strength. So that gave others an opportunity to play, and Speer said they took advantage.

“Other kids had to step up and get some experience,” he said. “It really showed, especially in a big situation. It was an opportunity for a measuring stick to see where you’re at. I was really proud of them and how they compete.”

The game was played at Art Briles Stadium.

“You walk out of the locker room and you get to see their big, beautiful $40 million facility,” Speer said. “It’s nice; they did it right. It’s big, but it’s not overly big. It still feels somewhat like a high school stadium. We usually walk the field as a team. I told the kids, ‘Hey grab your phones.’ They took videos and pictures, and that let them look around and soak it in. I wanted them to see it, to get past it so we could lock in and do our normal routine.”