Burnet football beats Fredericksburg

CAPTION: Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography

The Burnet High School football team defeated Fredericksburg 22-15 Sept. 20 in a pre-district contest.

The Bulldogs (2-2) scored all the points they needed in the first half.

Burnet head coach Ben Speer noted the Billies enjoy playing in their home stadium and commended the community for rallying around the team.

“Fredericksburg is very good, very solid upfront,” he said. “They put pressure in your face. When I worked at Boerne, Boerne and Fredericksburg always played hard. It was always a tough place to play, a tough place to win. They played a tough schedule. They’re better than their record shows.”

Burnet got on the board first thanks to recording a safety.

Then senior quarterback Rhett Murray went to work. He found senior receiver Colt Stanford for an eight-yard touchdown for a 9-0 lead in the first quarter. Marco Campos added the extra point.

The Billies responded in the second quarter on a 34-yard passing touchdown to trim the deficit to 9-7.

But the Bulldogs got the points back when Murray found junior fullback Riley Howell for a 41-yard touchdown and a 16-7 advantage.

A trick play resulted in senior receiver David Prather catching a 20-yard touchdown pass from senior athlete Marcus Pimentel for a 22-7 lead at the half.

Fredericksburg scored on a 49-yard touchdown pass and added the two-point conversion to trim the deficit to 22-15 in the third quarter. That’s as close as the Billies would come.

In all, Burnet had 246 yards of total offense thanks to 71 plays.

Murray, who hit seven different Bulldogs, connected on 10 of 30 passes for 166 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Junior running back Josiah Coronado had 18 carries for 38 yards, while Howell caught three passes for 54 yards and a score.

“We weren’t in sync as much as we wanted to,” Speer said. “It was a little frustrating not to score in the second half. We still had a couple of self-inflicted wounds. We weren’t able to finish drives in the second half. We had some short fields cause our defense was pinning them way back. (Offensively) we weren’t driving nearly as far.”

Senior running back Khris Kassner led the defense with 12 tackles, followed by junior lineman Holden Valdez. Senior Alejandro Ochoa and Howell each recovered a fumble.

Speer tipped his cap to his defense, praising the unit for having answers and protecting the lead.

“The defense was able to do that and multiple times keep them from scoring,” he said. “We got two turnovers and stopped them on fourth down in our territory.”

Overall, the coach noted the game served as another teaching tool for the Bulldogs, who did what they had to to get a victory.

“We found a way to win even when it got difficult,” he said. “When it came down to it, we got the stops we needed. I’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss.”

Burnet welcomes Gatesville at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27, to Bulldog Field.

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