Burnet holds off Taylor’s second-half comeback for 55-35 victory Sept. 25

DANIEL CLIFTON • EDITOR

BURNET — When Burnet High School’s Steven Gallardo raced 96 yards to return the second-half opening kickoff to give the Bulldogs a 42-0 lead over the Taylor Ducks, it appeared the game was well in the books.

But…

“Those were two totally different halves,” Burnet head football coach Kurt Jones said. “We came out and played the way we needed to the first half. We executed extremely well. We didn’t make many mistakes. But in the second half, we just came out flat.”

The Taylor Ducks gave the Bulldogs quite a run in the second half. After Gallardo’s opening half touchdown, the Ducks scored 21 unanswered points and started to make things interesting.

The Bulldogs, however, gritted their teeth and added 13 more points and held Taylor to only two more touchdowns to earn a 55-35 win.

“It’s interesting when you win by 20 points and don’t feel good about it. And that’s the way everybody feels about this win,” Jones said. “That’s how the boys feel. There’s a lot we can learn from the second half.”

The Bulldogs (4-1) have an extra week to study with a bye Oct. 2. On Oct. 9, they host China Springs for the District 13-4A Division I opener.

The Bulldogs opened the contest against Taylor on Sept. 25 on fire. After a three-week road series, Burnet gave the homecoming crowd quite a show for the first half and several parts of the second.
Burnet forced Taylor to punt away their first possession of the game. Then, the offense showed their gratitude by taking the ball down the field 52 yards for a touchdown. Burnet’s Brock Foster capped off the drive with a 4-yard run.

Taylor’s offense, led by quarterback Terrell Reynolds, managed a nice first-half drive, even getting the ball in the end zone. But a holding penalty ended up putting them back a few yards. The Bulldogs defense shut them down, forcing another Ducks punt.

This time, Burnet’s offense had a bit farther to go, starting at their own 13-yard line. But the Bulldogs put together a series of first downs. Austin Moore hit Darius Johnson for the first one, then Wesley Shackelford added a couple of his own on the ground followed by Gallardo catching a Moore pass to set up a first-and-10 on the Ducks’ 29-yard line.

Moore tagged Gallardo again, this time for a 29-yard touchdown completion, and Burnet was up 14-0.

The first half continued much like that. The Bulldogs’ defense continuously put pressure on Reynolds through the first half and wouldn’t give up many big plays.

The offense started churning up yards and scoring touchdowns. Gallardo, Sterling Galban and Johnson added a touchdown each as Burnet headed into the locker room with a 35-0 lead. Then Gallardo’s 96-yard touchdown run with the opening kic off seemed to seal the win.

Except on the ensuing kickoff, Taylor ended up with great field position and Reynolds and crew took advantage of it for their first score of the night. Then Taylor recovered a fumble on the kickoff, again giving Reynolds a short field to work with.

The Ducks worked down to Burnet’s 14-yard line where Reynolds hit Austin Garcia for a touchdown pass.

Taylor added another touchdown, this time with Reynolds going 25 yards for the end zone.
But Burnet’s offense countered when Moore connected with Gallardo for a 55-yard touchdown and 48-21 lead.

Taylor threatened again. They moved the ball from their 28-yard line to Burnet’s 5-yard line. But the Bulldogs’ defense held, forcing the ball over on downs. However, a couple of possessions later, Taylor’s Reynolds hit Jarrell Crittendon for an 8-yard touchdown pass with 10:11 left in the game. Burnet led 48-28, but Taylor was certainly thinking they could make up the difference with a couple of big plays.
On a Burnet punt, it looked as if they’d get their wish when the snap went awry, giving Taylor first-and-10 on the Bulldogs’ 20-yard line.

But the Burnet secondary kept the Ducks bottled up and the Bulldogs’ front contained Reynolds, setting up a fourth-and-goal from Burnet’s 6-yard line. Reynolds tried to hit a receiver in the corner of the end zone, but Burnet’s secondary broke up the pass.

Moore and company took over on their own 6-yard line with 7:49 left in the game. Then with Preston Reeves, Shackelford and Gallardo pounding away yard after yard on the ground, the Bulldogs moved down the field and, just as important, ate time off the clock.

Shackelford wrapped up the almost seven-minute drive with a 12-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-4 to seal the Burnet victory.

The Ducks added one more touchdown as time expired, but it was too late as Burnet won, 55-35.

daniel@thepicayune.com

STATS AND SCORING

FIRST QUARTER

B – Brock Foster 4-yard run (Tyler Torres kick), 8:22

SECOND QUARTER

B – Steven Gallardo 28-yard pass from Austin Moore (Torres kick), 9:57

B – Gallardo 21-yard pass from Moore (Torres kick), 5:45

B – Sterling Galban 5-yard pass from Moore (Torres kick), 2:50

B – Darius Johnson 7-yard pass from Moore (Torres kick), :32

THIRD QUARTER

B – Gallardo 96-yard kickoff return (Torres kick), 11:45

T – Malik Jackson 9-yard pass from Terrell Reynolds (Ryan Hanson kick), 11:28

T – Austin Garcia 14-yard pass from Reynolds (Hanson kick), 9:26

T – Reynolds 25-yard run (Hanson kick), 2:09

B – Gallardo 56-yard pass from Moore (kick missed), 1:27

FOURTH QUARTER

T – Jarrell Crittendon 8-yard run (Hanson kick), 10:11

B – Gallardo 12-yard run (Torres kick), :59

T – Reynolds 14-yard run (Hanson kick), :00

TEAM STATS

Burnet — Total yards, 625; rushes-yards, 43-246; passing, 379; interceptions, 1; comp-att-int, 24-38-1

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING – (Burnet), Wesley Shackelford 12-106, Preston Reeves 16-88, Foster 10-22-1 TD, Gallardo 2-16-1 TD, Moore 2-16, Tyler Ford 1-(-2).

PASSING – (Burnet), Moore 24-38-379-5 TD-1 INT

RECEIVING – (Burnet), Gallardo 7-162-3 TD, Joel Johnson 6-104, Shackelford 4-40, Galban 4-34-1 TD, Ford 1-24, Foster 1-8, Darius Johnson 1-7-1 TD