Burnet, Llano planning to win 7-on-7 tournament bid
One automatic bid to the 7-on-7 Division II state tournament is up for grabs at the Burnet State Qualifying tournament Saturday, May 28, and the Bulldogs and Llano are aiming to win it.
Standing in the way are six other squads with the same intention.
The tournament begins at 9 a.m. at Bulldog Field, 1400 Bulldog Stadium Drive. Burnet is playing in one pool that includes Gatesville, McGregor and Taylor. Llano is in the other pool along with Brownwood, Lorena and Somerset. The winners of the pools will face each other for the tournament championship and the automatic bid to state.
Llano head coach Matt Green said the Yellow Jackets are preparing to face solid skill players in their pool.
Somerset’s head coach is Koy Detmer, son of Sonny Detmer and brother to Ty Detmer, who won the 1990 Heisman Trophy as the Brigham Young University quarterback. Sonny Detmer is considered one of the coaches who introduced the wide-open passing attack to Texas high schools. Somerset will have a new starting quarterback in 2022.
Lorena won the Class 3A Division I state championship in December 2021, defeating Brock 35-18. McGregor and Lorena are in the same District 11-3A Division I in 2022. Brownwood is in District 2-4A Division I.
Burnet fans already are familiar with Taylor since the Bulldogs and Ducks have played each other in district play. Gatesville is in District 11-4A Division II.
Llano is having a quarterback battle between rising junior Briggs Green, the coach’s son, and rising senior Bryce Mize. Both led scoring drives in wins against the Bulldogs May 23. Burnet is settled at quarterback thanks to rising junior Grant Glidewell.
While the skill players are competing at the stadium, Burnet also is hosting a lineman’s challenge at the practice fields at 9 a.m. Among the teams entered include the Marble Falls Mustangs. Burnet may have two teams for this event.
“We’ll let our lines have some fun and compete against each other,” Burnet head coach Bryan Wood said.
Each lineman must compete in at least one challenge that include flipping tires, farmer’s walk, bench press and couple of others that equal five stations. Points are awarded to teams based on the race finish of each player.
Wood said having this event means plenty to the players in the trenches, more so than to the skill players.
“It may be more important because those big guys upfront don’t get their names said,” Wood noted. “When the linemen show up to a challenge, everybody is watching them. There’s not a skill guy to steal the story.”
Watch videos on Highland Lakes sports by going to Fierro’s YouTube channel and searching for The Broad Podcaster. Please like, subscribe and share.
