Burnet football up against tough Billies defense
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
BURNET — It doesn’t get easier for the Burnet High School football team.
After suffering a 40-16 loss to Abilene Wylie last week, the Bulldogs (1-1) are preparing for a home game against against Fredericksburg (2-0).
That contest kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12 at Bulldog Field, 1000 The Green Mile.
The Billies have wins against Lampasas, 22-15, and Austin Travis, 48-35.
“They’ve won 12 of their last 14 games,” Burnet head coach Kurt Jones said.
After the Bulldogs beat the Billies in last year’s season opener, Fredericksburg reeled off 10 consecutive wins, taking the district crown and a bi-district championship over Bandera, 28-10.
“We drove away believing they were a good team,” Jones said. “They have a bunch of kids back. They consider this senior class to be one of the best they’ve had. They’re a well-rounded team that doesn’t have much weakness.”
Fredericksburg senior quarterback Kyle Grona leads a spread attack, though the Billies run the football more than traditional spread teams. Grona has completed 20 of 37 passes for 261 yards and four touchdowns this season and has rushed 22 times for 76 yards and two touchdowns.
“Kyle Grona is a salty athlete,” Jones said. “He can run the ball, he can throw the ball.”
Billies senior running back Bryce Johnston has 22 rushes for 184 yards and two touchdowns. Nine Billies have caught at least one pass this season.
Jones called the Fredericksburg defense scrappy, noting the team returns seven defensive starters from a year ago.
“They don’t make mistakes in alignment,” Jones said. “They’ll make you earn everything you get.”
Fredericksburg is in District 14-4A Division I, the district that matches up against Burnet’s District 13-4A Division I. Depending on playoff seeding, there’s a chance these teams could play each other again in the postseason.
Last week for Burnet, Wylie’s run game dominated the statistics box. In all, Wylie had 46 rushes for 447 yards led by senior running back Trey Kleffner’s 23 rushes for 346 yards.
“That wasn’t a surprise to us necessarily,” Jones said of Wylie’s run game. “They’re pretty impressive. We know what kind of program they have. They were a handful.”
Jones noted two plays that stood out. The first was on a 40-yard punt return that was called back because of a penalty. The other was a Burnet fumble after the defense forced Wylie to punt from the back of its end zone.
“You have to take advantage of those opportunities when you have them,” Jones said. “When your defense goes out and gets a stop, you feel momentum swing. That’s the opportunity to get momentum flowing.”
Coaches graded out the film, and Jones said the mindset of his defensive players is pretty good.
“You wouldn’t think it by looking at the scoreboard,” he said. “We made strides on defense than when we were at Marble Falls. We didn’t make adjustments quick enough to slow their running game. Other than when we gave them the short field, the defense made stops.
“It was a good test,” he added. “We know that to beat a team of that caliber, we have to eliminate those mistakes.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com