Burnet football beats Gatesville
CAPTION: Burnet receiver David Prather (8) is congratulated on making his 13-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
The Burnet High School football team defeated Gatesville 23-17 Sept. 27 to give Ben Speer his first home win as a head coach.
“(Gatesville) is good, they’re very physical,” he said. “It’s our best win so far. I don’t know if it’s the most important. It’s great to have everybody there and doing it for the community. It made it a whole lot more fun and it was senior night.”
The game couldn’t have started any better for the Bulldogs (3-2).
On the Hornets’ first offensive play, they spread out and ended up throwing an interception to senior Colt Stanford.
“They gave us a gift,” Speer said. “(Gatesville head) coach ((Aaron) Hunter is probably second-guessing himself.”
From the Gatesville 30-yard line, the Bulldog offense went to work on a drive that ended when junior running back Josiah Coronado scored from two yards out. Sophomore Marcos Campos added the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
Burnet’s defensive dominance continued throughout the half. The Bulldogs forced a three-and-out and a five-and-out.
“That sure helps … when you can do that,” Speer said.
In the second stanza, Campos added a 20-yard field goal for a 10-0 advantage.
And just before the intermission, David Prather caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from senior Marcus Pimentel for a 17-0 lead. Add to that that Burnet was going to get the second-half kick to start the third quarter, and the Bulldogs had everything set up for succcess.
“That’s a two-for-one kind of deal,” the coach said. “Them not knowing what we were going to defensively also helped. Credit to them. At the half, they made adjustments. There was a tip(ped pass) — they had a tip, we had a tip, and they had a tip. They scored on their first drive of the second half.”
Gatesville senior Rayshon Smith scored the first of his two rushing touchdowns. That one was from nine yards out.
But the Bulldogs answered thanks to a 25-yard touchdown pass to junior receiver Matthew Williams from senior quarterback Rhett Murray to extend the lead to 23-7.
Smith added his second touchdown, this one on a 19-yard dash to paydirt. The two-point conversion trimmed the deficit to 23-15 in the fourth quarter.
A fumble recovered by Burnet senior Alejandro Ochoa “got (the Hornets) off the field.”
Trying to protect the lead on what turned out to be the last play of the game, the Bulldogs called a timeout and asked senior Lew Laidler to take the snap and run around before going to the end zone to give up the safety as the clock struck triple zeroes.
“We had everything set up,” Speer said. “We had everything planned out. And the officials put some more seconds on the clock.”
Offensively, he credits the quicker pace for why the Bulldogs were able to build the lead in the first half.
“We did more tempo on offense and did more no-huddle to set things up and line us up,” the coach said. “It’s hard work to slow things down when you have the momentum. And the last three weeks in the first half, we’ve been hot coming out, especially on defense. That gives us confidence.”
Murray completed 19 of 26 passes for 173 yards with a touchdown and an interception. In all eight Bulldogs had a catch. Coronado had 15 rushes for 62 yards and a score. Williams had six receptions for 86 yards and a touchdown, while Stanford had five catches for 31 yards.
“Our whole receiving corp did a good job,” Speer said. “You can’t say enough about Marcus. He’s always in the middle of making plays. He has such a special role with us. Colt is our big possession catcher. If you need five yards, he’ll give you six. Matthew Williams is becoming someone people are going to have to start dealing with. We’re getting our depth on offensive and defensive lines. You feel like you have a little more breathing room.”
And while senior Noah Billock’s biggest stat is causing the fumble that Ochoa recovered, Speer pointed out Billock’s contributions go beyond the stat sheet.
“We moved him to a new spot to help against Gatesville,” he said. “He played a lot of snaps and made plays. He’s the reason we got the tackles. He’s taking all the blockers on. His attitude is ‘my team is winning because I’m doing my job.’
“We still have a little bit of work to do,” he added. “I think we did a better job of not shooting ourselves in the foot. It’s great when you can keep the ball and keep moving it. It’s fun. We’re on the climb. We haven’t peaked, we haven’t plateaued. We’re still getting better. On Oct. 11 (the district opener against Marble Falls), I need to make sure we’re ready to go.”
Burnet welcomes San Angelo Lakeview at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4, to Bulldog Field.
Watch videos on Highland Lakes sports by going to Fierro’s YouTube channel and searching for The Broad Podcaster. Please like, subscribe and share.
CAPTION: The Bulldogs defense continues to be dominant at the line of scrimmage and makes it miserable for the opponents’ offenses. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
