TOMBALL - Shiner's run at a state championship died a slow painful death Friday.
The Comanches were undone as much by their own mistakes as by the Burkeville Mustangs, who captured a 41-8 win in a Class 1A quarterfinal playoff at Cougar Stadium.
Shiner turned the ball over three times on fumbles and twice on interceptions under fierce pressure from the Burkeville defense.
The Comanches squandered their few opportunities.
"We made mistakes," said Shiner head coach Billy Turek. "We put the ball on the ground. We didn't play well on defense and we didn't tackle. Mostly we didn't tackle. We were there at times but we just didn't make the tackle."
"Burkeville is a good ballclub," he added and shrugged. "We knew they were quick and that (quickness) hurt us tonight. When you haven't seen quickness all year like that, sometimes it hurts you. We didn't block as good or tackle as good against their quickness as we have. And if you don't block and tackle good, you're not going to win many games."
The Mustangs' only turnover of the game came on their first possession. After that, Burkeville settled down and started moving the ball up and down the field behind the rushing of Jonathan Lewis, who rushed for 116 yards on 11 carries and scored on a 5-yard run and a 60-yard fumble recovery return.
Dwight Fowler, who rushed for 76 yards on 13 carries, scored on runs of 1 and 38 yards while Erick Spearman, who gained 61 yards on 13 carries, scored on a 13-yard run.
Burkeville also added a late touchdown with four seconds left to play on a 3-yard run by John Spearman.
Shiner was able to counter with just 58 yards on the ground, while Ray Gates was held to 24 yards on 11 carries.
A fumble by Travis Wright at the Shiner 44 set up Burkeville's first touchdown.
Two plays later, Fowler clicked off his 38-yard gallop for a 6-0 lead with 6:51 left in the first quarter.
Shiner marched down to the Burkeville 7 at the end of the first quarter and start of the second quarter. However, the drive came up short when a Wright pass fell incomplete in a fourth-and-six from the Mustang 7.
The Comanches dodged a bullet when Lewis instantly rambled 93 yards for a touchdown. The ball was brought back on a penalty, but it started to show early the shaky ground on which Shiner stood.
The Mustangs added to their lead late in the half with a 10-play, 57-yard drive. It was nothing fancy, but the Mustangs were able to consistently find holes in the Shiner defense and slip through for the key yards. Erik Spearman went the last 13 with 2:48 left in the half.
Shiner got a big pass from Wright to Bryan Franklin to reach the Burkeville 24. Just three plays later, Wright was sacked and the ball rolled around until Lewis picked it up and dashed 60 yards to score with 1:13 left in the half and put Burkeville ahead, 18-0.
Burkeville quickly added to its lead in the second half, going just 31 yards for Lewis' 5-yard scoring run with 4:32 left in the third quarter after a short Shiner punt.
The Comanches finally put together a drive, going 62 yards in 11 plays to score on a 1-yard run by Gates with 1:06 left in the third quarter to cut the lead briefly to 26-8.
Shiner went for the onside kick and got the ball at the Burkeville 41. However, two plays later Wright fumbled under heavy pressure from the Burkeville defense.
And Shiner's next two possessions ended in a fumble and pass interception and Burkeville took advantage and scored both times, adding 15 points to win by 33 points.
"I thought Travis had a good ballgame under all that pressure," said Turek. "We did have a great effort but we didn't play good."
GAME STATISTICS: Shiner Burkeville First Downs 10 15 Yards Rushing 33-59 49-298 Yards Passing 101 18 Passes 7-14-2 1-2-0 Punts 3-34.6 2-38 Fumbles-lost 4-3 1-1 Penalties-yards 2-10 7-40 SCORING DETAILS: Shiner 0 0 8 0 -- 8 Burkeville 6 12 8 15 -- 44 First Quarter B - Dwight Fowler 38 run (kick fail), 6:51 Second Quarter B - Erick Spearman 13 run (run fail), 2:48 B - Jonathan Lewis 60 fumble recovery return (pass fail), 1:13 Third Quarter B - Lewis 5 run (Brandon Lewis run), 4:30 S - Ray Gates 1 run (Gates pass from Travis Wright), 1:06 Fourth Quarter B - Fowler 1 run (B. Lewis run), 6:51 B - John Spearman 3 run (Brian Davis kick), 0:04 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS: Rushing - Shiner: Ray Gates 11-24, Eric Murphy 6-19, Travis Wright 11-16. Burkeville: Jonathan Lewis 11-116, Dwight Fowler 13-76, Erik Spearman 13-61, Brandon Lewis 7-38, John Spearman 1-3, Marlon Shankle 1-2, Willie Williams 3-2 Passing - Shiner: Travis Wright 7-13-2-101, Jason Kaspar 0-1-0-0 Burkeville: Brandon Lewis 1-2-0-18 Receiving - Shiner: Bryan Franklin 3-54, Jason Kaspar 2-18, Ray Gates 2-24 Burkeville: Chris Kyles 1-18
GAME PHOTOS & VIDEO
Click on images below to see a larger photo (or video). |
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QB Travis Wright pitch to RB Ray Gates |
QB Travis Wright back to pass |
Comanche defense attacks |
Loyal Comanche fans at Tomball Stadium |
LB Craig Fric sacks Burkeville QB for loss |
Comanches run onto the field! MPG Video File (1.2 Mb) |
Photos & Video © Copyright BaerCom - Shiner, Texas 2000 |