Burnet opens season against young but talented Austin Reagan
Burnet High School junior running back Ryan Jackson looks for a path to the end zone during a scrimmage against Brownwood on Aug. 18. The Bulldogs open their season Thursday, Aug. 31, against Reagan High School at Nelson Field in Austin. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
STAFF WRITER JENNIFER FIERRO
BURNET — The Burnet High School football team is flying a little blind into its season opener against Reagan High School on Aug. 31 at Nelson Field in Austin.
Reagan’s only scrimmage was canceled last week because of heavy rain brought on by Hurricane Harvey.
And no scrimmage means no film exchange between the teams.
Reagan started training camp a week later than Burnet because the Raiders participated in spring football. By University Interscholastic League rule, Classes 5A and 6A have the option of spring drills, but the penalty is squads must give up the first week of fall training camp. Unlike Burnet, Reagan didn’t have another scrimmage before the start of the regular season.
“But they’ve had opportunities to have seen us,” Bulldogs head coach Kurt Jones said.
Burnet scrimmaged against Brownwood on Aug. 18 and Wimberley on Aug. 24.
Still, the Bulldogs played Reagan last year, so they aren’t completely unfamiliar with the Raiders, he added.
The biggest challenge for Burnet, Jones said, is preparing for an offensive opponent that used a spread scheme emphasizing short passes for long gains last year but is now implementing a Wing-T scheme, which is a run-based plan that relies on misdirection to confuse the defense.
“It’s a lot different style,” the coach said. “We play Liberty Hill that is a Wing-T, and there have been stretches where Lampasas was a Slot-T offense. It’s not foreign to us, but it’s different from the spread, so we’re preparing for both.“
The Raiders are led by junior quarterback Uriel Montelongo and junior running back Vontrey Harper.
Defensively, Reagan is expected to field talented but young players led by linemen Jose Aguilar, Rudy Edwards, Patrick Thomas, and Deanthony Moore. Jones said the Raiders will have athletic and fast players all over the field.
“We’d love to hit big plays and put together 10- or 11-play drives and move the ball down the field with discipline,” he said.
Burnet sophomore quarterback Chandler Galban will make his debut on the varsity level. Jones said Galban has handled the transition well.
“Some kids have it in their genetics to stay calm,” the coach said. “I think Chandler is calm, cool, and collected.”
He noted that Galban has faced two solid defenses in the Bulldogs’ scrimmages, and the quarterback has met the challenges. In addition, Burnet lines up its starting offense against its starting defense for a few minutes every practice, so that has helped Galban’s learning curve, Jones said.
Jones said the keys for this game are the same as always: Block and tackle well and avoid turnovers.
“I don’t know that it’s ever more true than when you’re getting out in front against an opponent in a game atmosphere,” he said. “All of those will be huge.”
Jones said the Bulldogs finished their training camp on a high note with a scrimmage against Wimberley. The Texans won the live portion 3-2, but Burnet recovered a turnover late in the scrimmage.
“Wimberley has a good squad,” he said. “We made some strides, we moved the ball, and had some big plays. Our speed guys made some plays. Kids fought hard.”
Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Nelson Field, 7105 Berkman Drive in Austin. Listen to the contest on KMPN 95.9 FM powered by KBEY or at KBEYFM.com starting with a pregame show at 7 p.m.