Burnet football team gets 41-14 bi-district win over Alvarado
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
BELTON — The Burnet High School football team captured its first bi-district championship in four years after beating Alvarado 41-14 on Nov. 15.
The Bulldogs (8-3) will face Kennedale in the area round of the Class 3A playoffs at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 22 at Waco ISD Stadium in Waco.
“Super, super proud of our boys,” Burnet head coach Kurt Jones said. “(Alvarado is) a big physical team. It’s about our kids, our program and our community. It’s big for our program and our community.”
Alvarado scored on its opening possession to take a 7-0 lead with a six-yard scamper by junior running back Adrian Hendrick.
Then, Burnet scored 34 unanswered points by the end of the first half.
Bulldogs senior quarterback Derek Kiser threw touchdown passes of 43 yards to senior running back Trenton Hafley, two to junior receiver Cody Jones of 10 and 67 yards, and one to sophomore receiver Brock Foster for 29 yards. Senior kicker Austin Huff hit field goals of 35 and 36 yards.
In all, the Bulldogs earned more than 300 yards of total offense.
Meanwhile, the Burnet defense forced two fumbles, one turnover on downs and two punts to limit the Indians to less than 160 yards of total offense.
“We started making some things happen,” Jones said. “(Alvarado’s) whole season was about putting together 15-play drives. We knew if we could score in an uptempo, fast pace, it would be hard for them.”
Alvarado took the opening drive of the third quarter 89 yards for a touchdown on a three-yard running dive by junior quarterback Adam Everitt. The 20-play drive took eight minutes and 36 seconds to complete, though Burnet still led the contest, 34-10.
It took Burnet two plays to answer. Kiser hit Foster for a 58-yard touchdown reception to make it 41-14.
Kiser finished with 355 yards unofficially, while Foster and Jones each had more than 100 receiving yards.
“We’re still alive,” Kiser said. “It’s what we worked all season for during our senior year. It felt like we kept pouring it on. The defense played fantastic.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com