Burnet football aims to follow same successful formula against Somerset

Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography

The Burnet High School football team takes on Somerset at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, at Toyota Rattler Stadium at San Marcos High School.

Somerset (6-4) was in a three-way tie for second place in District 14-4A Division I with Uvalde (6-4) and Fredericksburg (3-7). All three had identical 3-2 district records.

Somerset enters the playoffs as the district’s second seed based on points.

Somerset head coach Koy Detmer, who was a quarterback at the University of Colorado and was a seventh-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1997, has installed an offense that combines what he learned on the collegiate and professional levels.

Burnet head coach Bryan Wood said Somerset runs a prostyle offense with lots of plays and different formations. The goal is to keep the defense guessing on what comes next.

“It’s a little bit of everything,” he said. “It’s very multiple.”

Somerset is led by quarterback Koby Isbell, who has completed 115 of 184 passes for 1,617 yards, 14 touchdowns and 7 interceptions and has 37 rushes for 54 yards and 3 scores.

Josiah Lugo has 70 rushes for 458 yards and 12 touchdowns followed by Zackary Serna, who has 63 carries for 357 yards and 5 touchdowns and 6 receptions for 65 yards and Joe Torres, who has 31 rushes for 195 yards and a score and 6 catches for 81 yards and a touchdown.

Jayden Faz has 48 catches of 549 yards and 7 touchdowns and Joshua Lopez has 20 receptions for 444 yards and 2 scores.

Defensively, Somerset’s defensive backs are very stingy as illustrated by their 14 interceptions this season. Jason Flores has 4 for 75 yards.

The defensive front is a 3-4 look.

“There are lots of twists and blitzes, ” Wood said. “They’re very big, they mix it up and try to confuse you.”

Burnet will counter with an offensive scheme that has shown an ability to run and pass the ball equally well this season.

Junior quarterback Rhett Murray has completed 118 of 178 passes for 1,857 yards, 19 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.

Senior running back Dash Denton has 126 carries for 820 yards and 9 touchdowns this season. Junior running back Khris Kassner has 52 rushes for 322 yards and 4 scores. Senior athlete Grant Jones has 41 receptions for 891 yards and 12 touchdowns and 32 rushes for 297 yards and 2 scores, Senior receiver Trenton Park has 28 catches for 391 yards and 4 scores and Garner Krause has 20 receptions for 287 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Wood said he believes one of his team’s best traits is controlling the clock and flow of the game. That’s what led to the win at San Antonio Davenport. The Bulldogs didn’t snap the ball until five seconds remained on the play clock, which proved invaluable when the Wolves wanted to play fast and may have felt rushed, which may have resulted in miscues.

He believes the Bulldogs will have to commit to doing that against Somerset.

“Against Taylor we snapped it right at five seconds,” the coach said. “They had like number of snaps to Davenport. I thought we did as well as you can do it. We ran 70 plays. We actually had more plays than our average.”

The other important phase, he said, was in special teams.

“We want to flip the field and start out with good field position,” he said.

The winner of this game faces the winner of the Calhoun and Zapata contest, which also will be played Nov. 10.

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