Turnovers haunt Burnet football team in loss to Marble Falls

DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR

BURNET — With 1:38 left in the game and the Burnet High School football team trailing Marble Falls 56-49, Bulldogs quarterback Derek Kiser hit his running back Trenton Hafley for a quick strike over the middle on fourth and 11. Hafley turned upfield and tried to bull his way through the Mustangs defenders before they could take him down.

Llano 21, Bandera 17[/box] Hafley turned and shuttled the ball back to a teammate, but it wouldn’t be enough. Marble Falls took over on downs and ran out the clock when Mustangs quarterback Brennen Wooten raced out of the end zone as the buzzer sounded. Sure it gave Burnet two points, but it sealed the Mustangs’ third straight win over the Bulldogs, 56-51.[box]OTHER SCORES
Faith Academy 28, Austin Eastside Memorial 7
Llano 21, Bandera 17[/box]

“You just can’t give an offense like that 14 points,” Burnet head coach Kurt Jones said. “We found ourselves continually climbing out of a hole.”

Jones was referring to two back-to-back Burnet fumbles on kickoffs that Marble Falls turned into two touchdowns. The Mustangs opened the game by kicking off to Burnet, but the Bulldogs returner coughed up the ball.

Five plays later, Marble Falls’ Keith Jerome punched the ball into the end zone.

On the ensuing kickoff, Burnet fumbled again. This time, it only took Wooten one play to connect with Mustangs receiver Garrett Gray for a 33-yard touchdown strike and a quick 14-0 lead.

“We didn’t turn the ball over the first two games of the season,” Jones said. “We want to give the ball back by kicking it to them. This is something we have to learn from.”

The Bulldogs, however, never gave up. In fact, despite what appeared to be insurmountable odds at times, the Burnet players hunkered down and put themselves right back in the game.

Burnet’s first scoring drive started with 5:28 left in the first quarter on their own 23-yard line. Kiser led the Bulldogs down the field on several passes as well as some solid running by Hafley.

Then, at the 1:48 mark, Kiser hit Blayne Parisher for a 20-yard touchdown strike.

But that was the rhythm the two teams established. Burnet would get within a touchdown, then Marble Falls would add one for a two-touchdown lead.

In the fourth quarter, Burnet scored on a Kiser-to-Hafley reception at the 3:04 mark to make it a 56-49 game.

On the ensuing kickoff, Burnet’s Austin Huff executed a hard onside kick that hit a Mustang and bounced back toward the charging Bulldogs.

Burnet recovered and found themselves with a chance to tie the game. Kiser quickly began moving Burnet down the field including connecting on a 21-yard pass to Parisher to get to the Mustangs’ 21-yard line.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the game would end on the fourth-and-11 play, well short of the first down.

“I’m so proud of the boys for fighting back,” Jones said. “They just wouldn’t give up. Every time we got down, they just got in there and kept fighting. I can’t say enough about them.”

The loss drops Burnet to 2-1 on the season. On Sept. 20, the Bulldogs travel to Canyon Lake High School in Fischer for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.

daniel@thepicayune.com