Burnet in a must-win situation against Lampasas

JENNIFER FIERRO • STAFF WRITER

BURNET — Burnet High School head football coach Kurt Jones summed up the Bulldogs’ final regular season game at Lampasas and playoff implications in one sentence.

“We need to win, and we’re in,” he said.

The two teams meet 7:30 p.m. Nov. 6 at Badger Field, 190 E. Ave. B in Lampasas, in a District 13-4A Division I showdown. Listen to the game on 106.5 powered by KBEY or at KBEYFM.com under “Burnet Football” starting with a 7 p.m. pregame show.

Burnet is 1-3 in district, while Lampasas is 0-4.

“If we (beat Lampasas), we’re qualified as the fourth-place team out of this district,” Jones continued.

What complicates the matter is that if Burnet loses and Waco Robinson (1-3) defeats Waco La Vega, the Rockets qualify for fourth because they would have two district wins to the Bulldogs’ one.

And a Lampasas win over Burnet has to be by more than a touchdown to cover the seven-point loss to Robinson (21-14 on Oct. 9) for the Badgers to leapfrog the Rockets into the playoffs.

“Really, no one is eliminated, even coming in with that last game,” Jones said. “Everybody is still fighting for their lives. We got to take care of us. We got to go into Lampasas ready to compete.”

The Badgers utilize a slot-T offense, which emphasizes a running attack with misdirection, led by quarterback Cohen Cockburn, who has 126 carries for 873 yards and seven touchdowns and has completed 39 of 73 passes for 585 yards with six touchdowns and five interceptions. Running back Spencer Maples has 158 carries for 1,139 yards and nine touchdowns

“They want to run the football, and they want to control the clock and, therefore, control the game,” Jones said. “Cockburn is a great runner. (Maples), their lead rusher, is a great running back. Those two guys will try to get behind their offensive line and lead their rushing attack.”

Of Lampasas’ 3,293 yards of total offense, 2,683 have come on the ground.

And while the Bulldogs haven’t defended a slot-T offense this year, Jones said they know what to do because Lampasas and Liberty Hill have used the scheme for years.

Defensively, the Badgers want to bring pressure from the linebackers to try to confuse Bulldogs senior quarterback Austin Moore. The Lampasas defensive backs drop back into coverage in an attempt not to give up the big play.

“They’ll try to keep things in front of them and make you drive the ball down field,” Jones said. “Always feel like Lamp teaches their kids to run hard to the football and play with great effort and great pursuit angles and all those things. They’ll make us earn anything that we get.”

Moore has completed 175 of 292 passes for 2,376 yards with 25 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Junior receiver Steven Gallardo has 55 catches for 801 yards and nine touchdowns, and senior receiver Joel Johnson has 39 receptions for 900 yards and nine touchdowns.

The Bulldogs are coming off a 32-25 loss to La Vega in a game they led for 28 of 32 minutes. Jones said he isn’t concerned that one loss will beat them twice.

“I think the guys understood that they had La Vega on the ropes and understand that when we go out and play like we’re capable of, then we can beat anyone,” he said. “They understand what’s at stake. Their effort, up to this point, and time during the week has been good and been focused on the Badgers, and, hopefully, we’ll continue that this week and go in there and take care of business.”

jfierro@thepicayune.com