Burnet football hosts Gatesville for tough district home-opener game
[box]GAMETIME
Burnet Bulldogs vs. Gatesville Hornets
KICKOFF: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 18
WHERE: Bulldog Field, 1000 The Green Mile in Burnet
TUNE IN: Listen to 102.9 FM or at KBEYFM.com starting with a 7 p.m. pre-game show. Live broadcast starts at 7:30 p.m.[/box]
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
BURNET — It doesn’t get easier for the Burnet High School football team.
The Bulldogs (4-2, 0-1 in District 8-3A play) welcome Gatesville (3-3, 1-0) for the district home opener at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 18.
Burnet lost to Brownwood 36-31, while the Hornets crushed Lampasas 45-27, both on Oct. 11.
Gatesville is led by running back Jake Kee, who had averaged 10.3 yards a game before Gatesville faced Lampasas. That’s when Kee, the reigning district most valuable player, exploded for 213 yards and three touchdowns. He is the focal point of the Hornets’ offense.
“He’s their best offensive player,” Burnet head coach Kurt Jones said. “They try to get him the ball quite a bit.”
Quarterback Jeff Speer has thrown for more than 400 yards, while Zac Paskett has more than 200 yards while catching the ball for Gatesville
“They get better from week to week,” Jones said. “They know how to win. They, maybe, took a few lumps earlier in the season.”
Two special-teams touchdowns by Brownwood helped the Lions claim the victory against Burnet. The last one might have been especially excruciating.
Burnet senior kicker Austin Huff nailed a 36-yard field goal with 14 seconds left to give the Bulldogs a 31-30 lead.
After Brownwood’s Conner Howard took the ensuing kickoff in his own end zone, he pitched it to Kaimon Ontiveros, who was at least three yards deep behind the goal line. When Ontiveros hit the goal line, it looked as if the Bulldogs might have him bottled up, but the Lion found some space and worked his way through.
Then, the countdown began: 20-yard line, 30-yard line, 40-yard line. It continued until Ontiveros sealed Burnet’s fate with a 103-touchdown return.
In the first quarter, Brownwood tied the game on an 80-yard punt return by Bryan Johnson. Also in the first half, the Bulldogs were set to receive the ball, but a player decided to let the ball bounce off the turf to him. Instead, it bounced away from him and to Brownwood, who recovered the ball for another possession that turned into a touchdown.
“The game came down to special teams,” Jones said. “That’s 21 points on special teams.”
He added the team emphasizes special teams as much as it does the offensive and defensive schemes. And he put the blame for the outcome on one group.
“That’s on us as a coaching staff,” he said, “no matter what’s happening on the field. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see what happened. We have recognized it. We have to go to work and get the issue straightened out.”
The Bulldogs led the Lions in every offensive category. Burnet had a total of 354 offensive yards compared to the Lions’ 201.
“I’m very proud of our kids,” the coach said. “They fought and did exactly what we challenged them to do. In the last 15-20 seconds, they did everything to give us a chance to win it.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com