Burnet 7 on 7 performs well at own state qualifier

CAPTION: Bryan Johnson makes a tough catch in traffic. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography

The Burnet High School 7-on-7 team went 1-2 at its own state qualifying tournament May 30, which illustrates the depth of the talent and challenges of the eight squads playing in it.

Still, head coach Ben Speer, who along with his staff were behind the end zone watching just like other Bulldog fans, left encouraged by what he saw for many reasons.

The first is because of how close each game was between the Bulldogs, Fredericksburg, Marble Falls and Wimberley. The Burnet games came down to one or two possessions.

“That’s what you want,” Speer said. “And when you build the pools you don’t want cakewalks. You’re … trying to balance (the pools) out as much as possible.”

That was apparent from the start, too, as Austin LBJ, Bandera, Lago Vista and Llano battled in the other pool. Most of those games came down to a possession that called for defenses to make one last stand to ensure victory.

All of that illustrated parody.

“You always want the challenge when it’s time to step up and meet that challenge,” Speer said. “And so playing quality opponents is very important. I I always believe this and tell the kids it’s a game that’s designed for the offense to score every series, so we have to take advantage of that and play catch. And then on defense is we’re practicing. We’re working on trying to get off the field and celebrate like heck when we do it.”

He thought the Bulldogs “came out really flat” against Wimberley to begin the tournament. That was illustrated by the number of interceptions the Texans had. The Burnet defense was trying to answer by getting interceptions, too.

“To their credit, they took advantage,” he said. “We were just kind of off with missed balls and miss opportunities. I thought the defense came out and played really well and got several turnovers. But we weren’t matching on the other side when we had opportunities to. Timing is a little off and nd we dropped several balls that we should have had. That’s the difference in the game.”

The Bulldogs followed that with a very close loss to Fredericksburg, which ended up winning the pool.

“That came down to the last series,” Speer said. “We had a chance to tie it up, and it was really a back-and-forth game. We had two drives inside the red zone that stalled out that we didn’t punch it in. That’ll drive you crazy as a coach. So those things are hard to swallow. But they played a whole lot better than they did first game. Fredericksburg might have been a better team.”   

The Bulldogs put it all together in the win against the Mustangs to end the day.

Burnet has a new offensive staff in 2026 with offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tyler Fambrough and wide receivers coach Aaron Terry. Brandon Cunningham, who was on the staff a year ago, will be on the offensive staff this year. All three spent their morning watching the Bulldogs.

“We’re still learning, we’re still implementing,” Speer said of Fambrough’s scheme. “You see us with the playbook out there, and I don’t mind it at all. It kind of slows it down, especially the kids who are playing both ways. But just really want them to be able to see it and see the big picture also and get lined up right. So that’s more important than just knowing the whole playbook, especially in 7 on 7 and then going to Llano every Monday in June is going to help even more with that.”

Speer, who comes from the defensive side of the ball, noted the Bulldogs are replacing many playmakers who graduated. So he was equally studious of the defenders in Kelly green.

“Just learning that responsibility,” he said. “We had a couple busts, but for the whole these guys stepped up and did great a job competing. Communicating was really was pretty good as well, and so those things are positive and excited to see, but at the same time on the offense, you see the little glimpses here and there and you’re like ‘OK, there it is.”

The Llano June League begins at 5 p.m. at Llano Stadium and includes Marble Falls and San Saba. Each team will play two games a week.

CAPTION: Quarterback Fisher Powell looks for an open receiver during the close loss to Fredericksburg. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography