Burnet’s defense seals the deal in 38-28 win over China Spring
DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR
CHINA SPRING — After a dominating offensive first half against the China Spring Cougars, it was up to the Burnet Bulldogs defense to lock in the 38-28 win in the District 13-4A Division I opener Oct. 10.
Burnet jumped out to a 28-7 lead at the end of the first half. The Bulldogs struck first when Austin Moore connected with Steven Gallardo over the middle for a 29-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. The next score came when Cory Cavender punched through for a five-yard run.
China Spring cut the lead to half when the Cougars’ Colin Dudik broke for a 32-yard touchdown run to make it 14-7. But the next two scores all went to the Bulldogs, including an 81-yard touchdown pass play with Moore dropping in a nice pass over Cody Jones’ outside shoulder. Once in the ball was in his grasp, Jones raced the rest of the distance to give Burnet a 21-7 lead.
On the ensuing kickoff, Austin Melvin dropped in a short kick that gave the Cougars fits and ended up in the hands of the Bulldogs with 1:37 left in the first half. A few plays later, Moore hit Cavender over the middle of the field for a 23-yard touchdown, and with 21 seconds left in the half, Burnet was up 28-7.
It all seemed so easy.
But as the second half unfolded, the Cougars’ offense surged while Burnet’s struggled a bit. Fortunately for the Bulldogs, the defense came up with several key plays and stands to thwart China Spring’s comeback.
The Cougars scored first in the second half to cut Burnet’s lead to 28-14. After Burnet faltered a bit on offense, the Cougars had another shot at cutting even deeper into the Bulldogs’ lead. But then Burnet’s Kody Hall grabbed China Spring quarterback Kameron Coe’s pass and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown to make it 35-14.
But the Burnet celebration didn’t last long because on the kickoff, the Cougars’ Tristan Czajkoski picked up the ball on his own 10-yard line and went the distance for a score to make it 35-21.
The Cougars, however, weren’t done. On Burnet’s next drive, China Spring’s Cutter Haigood intercepted a Bulldogs pass. A few plays later, the Cougars tacked on another touchdown and, after leading 28-7 at the half, Burnet found itself clinging to a 35-28 lead.
China Spring threatened again, but Burnet’s nose guard, Jarrett Thornley, broke through the line and sacked Coe, not once but twice, forcing the Cougars to punt. Though the Burnet offense didn’t come up with a score on the ensuing drive, punter Alex Melvin pinned China Spring back at its own 5-yard line with 3:22 left in the game.
The Cougars began working their way down the field a chunk of yardage at a time. But then, in a fourth-and-three situation, the Bulldogs defense broke into the backfield led by Cameron Chaffin to force Coe into making a bad pitch. Though the Cougars managed to cover it, they were well short of the first down, and Burnet took over on China Spring’s 28-yard line with a little more than two minutes left in the game.
Melvin put the game out for reach when he nailed a 35-yard field goal for a 38-28 lead with 29 seconds left on the clock.
The Cougars put together one more drive, but Burnet’s Michael Lindley ruined it for them when he snagged a Coe pass with seven seconds left in the game.
The win puts Burnet at 1-0 in district and 5-1 overall. The Bulldogs travel to Waco Robinson on Oct. 17 for their second district contest. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m.
daniel@thepicayune.com
SCORE BY QUARTERS
BURNET — 1ST (7); 2ND (21); 3RD (7); 4TH (3) – 38
CHINA SPRING — 1ST (0); 2ND (7); 3RD (14); 4TH (7) – 28
TEAM STATS
(BURNET) Total yards — 412; Rushes-yards — 34-119; Passing — 293; Interceptions — 1; Comp-att-int — 16-31-1; Fumbles-lost — 1-1
(CHINA SPRING) Total yards — 316; Rushes-yards — 25-107; Passing — 209; Interceptions — 3; Comp-att-int — 21-37-3; Fumbles-lost — 2-2
INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING – (Burnet), Cory Cavender 16-68-1 touchdown, Eric Walker 5-30, Brock Foster 13-22
PASSING – (Burnet), Austin Moore 16-31-293-3 touchdowns-1 interception
RECEIVING – (Burnet), Cody Jones 6-164-1 touchdown, Steven Gallardo 5-59, Cory Cavender 4-56