Burnet football hangs on in 51-45 OT win over rival Marble Falls

DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR

MARBLE FALLS — With a little more than nine minutes left in their opening-season game, Burnet’s Brock Foster rumbled 24 yards to put the Bulldogs up 45-17 once Alex Melvin added his extra point.

By all accounts, it looked as if the Bulldogs had wrapped up the contest against their cross-county rivals, the Marble Falls Mustangs.

“It was one of the games where I guess the two towns just got an epic battle,” said Burnet head football coach Kurt Jones.

That’s because the Mustangs didn’t just come back, they staged a battle those in the stands and on the field will remember for days, months and maybe even years to come.

The game got off to a rocky start after lightning forced the kickoff back to 8:45 p.m. instead of the standard 7:30 p.m.

“Our kids were liked caged animals in the locker room,” Jones said. “We could barely keep then in there.”

When the Burnet coaches finally released the Bulldogs, the Burnet boys went a bit wild. Sure, Marble Falls managed to get the first points on the board when Melvin Sanchez gave them a three-point lead off a field goal in the first quarter. But Burnet’s Melvin returned the favor a few minutes later to tie things up.

The Bulldogs really put things together when Burnet’s Darius Johnson intercepted Marble Falls’ Brennan Wooten’s pass deep within Mustangs territory. Three plays later, the pass from Burnet’s Austin Moore was tipped high into the air and landed in the waiting arms of Bulldog Cody Jones, who found his way into the end zone 14 yards away.

By the end of the first half, Burnet led Marble Falls, 17-10. But on the first drive of the second half, Burnet’s offense covered 80 yards in 11 plays to go up 24-10. A fumble recovery put Burnet back in business a few plays later. This time, Burnet ran a double flea flicker with the ball back in the hands of Moore, who gently hit Jones across the middle for a 47-yard touchdown strike.

And it looked as if the Bulldogs were on their way to a nice, easy win. Even the Marble Falls fans seemed to share the sentiment as many began to filter their way back to their cars. And if that wasn’t enough, surely Moore hitting Joel Johnson for a 58-yard touchdown toss wrapped the game up in a nice, green bow.

Then, when things looked their darkest for the purple and gold team, Matt Green’s squad began rallying. At 7:14 in the fourth quarter, Marble Falls’ Daven Manning sparked some life into the team and fans with a six-yard touchdown run capped off by a Sanchez extra point.

Still, time was running out for the Mustangs.

But on the ensuing kickoff, the Mustangs recovered an onside kick and turned it into a touchdown when Wooten found Eric Cauble for a score.

Burnet’s offense floundered when the Mustangs’ Ethan Reed picked off Moore’s pass with about five minutes left in the game. And the Mustangs, knowing it’s not best to look a gift horse in the mouth, capitalized on the turnover with Wooten hitting his brother Aaron Wooten for a 25-yard touchdown pass.

The Bulldogs, however, shocked the Mustangs a bit when they blocked the extra-point attempt. While Marble Falls attempted another onside kick, the Bulldogs clung to the ball.

Four plays later, Burnet’s Melvin punted but pinned the Mustangs back on their own 2-yard line, and with about three minutes left, surely there wasn’t enough time for Marble Falls to march down the field, score and add the two-point conversion?

Well, if you’ve read this far, you probably can discern that the Mustangs did just that with Brennen Wooten tacking on the 2-point conversion himself to tie things up 45-45.

And into overtime the game went.

But as Jones said after the game, the Bulldogs come with a lot of heart.

After forcing the Mustangs out on their first overtime drive with no points, the Bulldogs pounded away at the Marble Falls defense. First, Eric Walker bulled his way down to the Mustangs’ 6-yard line on two plays. A face mask penalty by Marble Falls put Burnet three yards from the end zone. Walker tried one time for the end zone, but Marble Falls closed in on him.

On the second time, Walker charged forward and leapt over the line into the end zone and into the win column with a 51-45 finish.

Jones, who had probably just experienced every emotion a coach could during a football game, smiled after talking with his team.

“The lesson the kids learn from a game like this is you can push your body further than you ever think it will go,” he said. “Hopefully, a game like this will pay dividends when we want to be playing in November and December.”

Jones admitted the Bulldogs still had a ton of work ahead of them, but he added the boys definitely have one thing they already need to be a threat to every adversary they meet in the weeks to come.

“They have a ton of heart,” Jones said.

Burnet hosts Abilene Wylie on Sept. 5 at Bulldog Stadium, 1000 The Green Mile in Burnet, with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.

daniel@thepicayune.com