Burnet football to play Andrews for bi-district title
Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
The Burnet High School football team is meeting Andrews for a bi-district championship at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14, at San Angelo Stadium, 1919 Knickerbocker Road in San Angelo.
This game is a rematch of the Mustangs’ 35-21 bi-district victory last year.
The Bulldogs (3-7, 1-3 District 4-4A Division I fourth place) are looking to snap a three-game losing skid after playing the top three teams in the district.
The Mustangs (5-5, 3-0 District 3-4A Division I champions) are on a three-game winning streak thanks to beating district foes San Angelo Lake View 36-28 last week for the district championship, Pecos 33-23, and Big Spring 28-20. Only the Pecos game was played in Andrews.
Lake View took a 14-7 lead in the first quarter and Andrews forced the Chiefs to turn the ball over on downs early in the second period.
The Mustangs scored on touchdown runs that each exceeded 70 yards for a 21-14 lead at the half.
The back and forth continued in the third stanza. Lake View tied the game on a rushing touchdown, but Andrews scored on a five-yard run. A two-point conversion gave the Mustangs a 29-21 lead going into the fourth quarter.
A touchdown run that was around 25 yards gave Andrews a 36-21 lead with four minutes remaining in the contest. And though the Chiefs scored again, the Mustangs ran out the clock for the win.
Burnet head coach Ben Speer said reviewing the film left him with the impression that Andrews was determined stay true to their system – the slot-T offense.
“‘We’re just going to do our thing,'” he said. “They turned the ball over earlier and (Lake View) took the ball and scored. There was no panic in them. They got ahead and they just kind of did their thing and grinded it out and got where they wanted to be in the fourth quarter and won it.”
Senior JaeSean DeBouse led with 14 rushes for 231 yards and two scores, while junior Beau Hudson had 12 carries for 127 yards and a touchdown.
As a unit the Mustangs average 301 rushing yards per game thanks to 6.3 yards per carry. They have 479 carries for 3,008 yards and 30 touchdowns this season.
“Any time you play the slot-T, it’s a different week of practice,” Speer said. “And trying to replicate that is always difficult. Then you have to get caught up to game speed once you hit the turf on Friday. You can do whatever you want in practice during the week. But there’s nothing like the live, the speed of it. So the sooner our kids can adjust to it, the better off we’ll be.”
For the season DeBouse has 148 carries for 1,090 yards and 14 scores thanks to averaging 7.4 yards per carry and nine catches for 126 yards and three touchdowns.
“They’ll move (DeBouse) around,” Speer said. “He’s more of the (fullback) and then they’ll put him in as the (halfback) or the (tailback) as well. He just loves playing. He has great speed, good vision. He’s just a great athlete who runs hard. They use him to run the ball and they use him as a decoy. They also throw to him, too. If you get caught watching him, you’re going to get in trouble.”
Hudson has 104 rushes for 843 yards and nine touchdowns thanks to averaging 8.1 yards a carry and junior Beau Hernandez has 78 carries for 521 yards thanks to averaging 6.7 yards per touch and three touchdowns.
“They have a couple of other guys who do the same thing,” Speer said. “They just get the job done.”
Though the Andrews offensive line “may be smaller” than in past years, the coach noted those players have improved in every game.
“Those guys are growing up every week and get another week of football, so they’re going to do better than what they have been and gaining that experience,” he said.
Burnet will counter with senior linebacker Adler Goehring, who has 103 tackles and two quarterback hurries, junior linebacker Rigo Valdez, who has 67 tackles, three sacks, an interception, two fumble recoveries and two pass deflections, and defensive backs Cason O’Hair and Trevin Park, who each have 79 tackles. O’Hair also has a quarterback hurry, caused a fumble and caught an interception, while Park has a sack, a fumble recovery and four pass deflections.
“You can’t take your eyes off your keys and if you get caught just watching, they hit you with a trap or something else,” he said. “And all of the sudden you’re chasing ghosts and they’ve got the ball 30 yards down the field.”
The Andrews defense is led by senior linebacker and defensive end Sammy Saldivar, who has 88 tackles, caused a fumble and caught an interception, sophomore defensive back Tommy Evans, who has 73 tackles, and senior safety Xavier Cruz, who has 57 tackles, three sacks and a fumble recovery.
The Bulldogs will counter with senior running back Josiah Coronado, who has 116 carries for 711 yards and five touchdowns, junior quarterback Bryan Johnson, who has 88 rushes for 604 yards and 14 touchdowns, and senior running back Peyton Lopez, who has 81 carries for 389 yards and and a score. Sophomore quarterback Fisher Powell has completed 62 of 131 passes for 684 yards, five touchdowns and nine interceptions and senior receiver Matthew Williams has 26 receptions for 477 yards and four scores.
“We’ve got to execute on offense and make sure we come out with points and move the ball,” Speer said. “Hopefully we can get them in a little bit of a hole and force them to get out of things they want to do.”
Though the regular season didn’t end the way the Bulldogs wanted, the coach noted the Bulldogs reached an important milestone when they left Stephenville last week.
“The biggest win you could say is we came out healthy,” he said. “That was the biggest part of it. The reality is you can’t lose anybody, and we don’t want anybody else to get banged up on that stage.”
