Burnet 7-on-7 football team goes 3-2 at state tourney
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
COLLEGE STATION — The Burnet High School 7-on-7 football team’s summer ended in the second round of the consolation bracket of the Division II state tournament July 11.
The Bulldogs lost 39-26 to Rice Consolidated after beating Prairieland 39-38 in the opening round.
In pool play, Burnet posted a 2-1 record with victories against Mexia (41-15) and Palmer (41-26). The Bulldogs’ only loss was to Kinkaid (26-8).
Kincaid featured returning lettermen J.T. Granato, a 6-foot-3-inch quarterback who committed to Rice University on May 15, and Sam Mays, a 6-4 receiver who committed to Illinois on July 6.
Burnet, Kinkaid and Palmer each finished with identical records. But Kincaid and Palmer advanced based off point differential between the three teams.
Kincaid lost to Graham, the eventual 7-on-7 state champion, in the first round of the championship bracket.
Bracket play began 8 a.m. July 11. Burnet and Prairieland kept trading touchdowns until the Bulldogs got some key stops on extra-point attempts, which proved to be the difference.
Coach Jon Huff said an interesting note is the Bulldogs were listed first every time they took the field. That means, as the visiting team, they started on offense to begin each contest. When both teams played to a tie in the opening half, the opponents got the ball to start the second half, which forced Burnet to get a stop defensively or play catch-up the rest of the game.
“That may have played into (some outcomes),” the coach said.
Junior quarterback Austin Moore played the first halves, while senior quarterback Taylor Barksdale took over in the second halves.
Both made some tremendous passes and struggled at times, Huff said, adding they sometimes didn’t show enough patience or looked for the big play too often.
That might have explained the loss to Rice Consolidated in which the Bulldogs had three consecutive three-and-outs.
One of the challenges for the Bulldogs was getting a better start to each game, Huff said. He noted Burnet began most of the games slowly before finding a rhythm on both sides of the ball.
“You can’t take any game for granted,” Huff said. “You have to play every game, and you can’t show up and not be prepared.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com