Wylie’s big plays make big difference in win over Burnet

DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR

BURNET — Big plays and turnovers haunted the Burnet Bulldogs (1-1) in their 40-16 loss Sept. 5 against Abilene Wylie (1-1) at Bulldog Stadium.

“We helped them out quite a bit,” said Burnet head football coach Kurt Jones after the game. “We had some opportunities to flip the field on them, but, again, we had four turnovers, and we just can’t give a team like that that much help.”

Burnet started the game with good field position thanks to a great opening return by the Bulldogs’ Steven Gallardo to the Wylie 33-yard line. Seven plays later, Burnet’s Eric Walker plunged in from four yards out to give the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead.

But on the second play from Wylie’s ensuing drive, Trey Kleffner broke free for a 71-yard touchdown run to tie things up 6-6. It would be Kleffner’s first of several big runs that hurt Burnet. The two teams exchanged a few series before Wylie scored again. This time, Kleffner set things up wit a 45-yard run before capping it off with a four-yard touchdown run.

Burnet, however, responded with a promising drive, but a fumble put the ball right back in Wylie’s hands. Kleffner added a 46-yard scoring run for a 20-6 lead.

The Bulldogs kept Wylie in check when Burnet’s Alex Melvin connected with a field goal, but Wylie went right back to Kleffner, who broke out for a 71-yard touchdown score to give the visitors a 27-9 lead.

Burnet turned around on the next drive and added a touchdown when Austin Moore connected with Cody Jones in the corner of the end zone to cut into Wylie’s lead, 27-16. The duo set the score up earlier in the drive when Moore hit Jones for a 31-yard pass.

Then, Moore hit Gallardo for a 13-yard pass.

After Kleffner looked as if he could run wild on the night, the Burnet defense adjusted a bit and started closing him and Wylie down. The Burnet defense forced Wylie to punt the ball away twice before the end of the first half thanks to some great pursuits and stout play.

Burnet kept the big plays in check during the second half, but Wylie capitalized on another Burnet fumble for another touchdown and added one more in the third quarter.

Going into the game, Burnet understood the challenge lying before them.

“They were no mystery to us,” Jones said. “That’s a rock-solid football team, and we wanted to challenge ourselves the second game of the season.”

As the Bulldogs get ready to host the Fredericksburg Billies Sept. 12, Jones said they still have some work ahead of them.

“We still have to get better in a lot of ways. We saw that tonight,” he said. “But the defense adjusted tonight. That’s a big-play offense, but we slowed them down in the second half. We just helped (Wylie) out to much.”

Burnet hosts Fredericksburg Sept. 12 with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.

daniel@thepicayune.com

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Wylie: 20-7-13-0 — 40

Burnet: 6-10-0-0 — 45

FIRST QUARTER

B – Eric Walker 4-yard run (kick no good), 10:08

W – Trey Kleffner 71-yard run (kick no good), 9:47

W – Kleffner 3-yard run (Dustin Quigley kick), 3:51

W – Kleffner 46-yard run (Quigley kick), 1:00

SECOND QUARTER

B – Alex Melvin 24-yard field goal, 10:20

W – Kleffner 70-yard run (Quigley kick), 9:36

B – Cody Jones 12-yard pass from Austin Moore (Melvin kick), 8:02

THIRD QUARTER

W – Kleffner 5-yard run (Quigley kick), 9:36

W– Clay Johnston 11-yard run (kick no good), :05

TEAM STATS

BURNET

First downs: 14

Total net yards: 241

Rushes-yards: 30-93

Passing: 148

Interceptions: 1

Comp-att-int: 18-34-1

Fumbles-lost: 2-2

Penalties-yards: 3-30

WYLIE

First downs: 17

Total net yards: 471

Rushes-yards: 41-447

Passing: 24

Interceptions: 0

Comp-att-int: 18-26-3

Fumbles-lost: 2-2

Penalties-yards: 5-34

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING – Burnet, Eric Walker 16-80-1 touchdowd, Cory Cavender 2-19, Jess Craig 4-17. Wylie, Trey Kleffner 23-346-5 touchdowns, Clay Johnston 6-53-1 touchdown, J.T. Cary 6-21, Kody Daniell 4-16, Tyler Ward 4-5, Tristan Smith 3-4

PASSING — Burnet, Austin Moore 1834-148-1-1. Wylie, Tyler Ward 1-1-18, J.T. Cary 2-9-8

RECEIVING – Burnet, Cody Jones 6-61-1 touchdown, Steven Gallardo 4-54, Craig 2-13. Wylie, Blake Johnston 1-18, Kleffner 2-8