Calil Burnett helps East beat South for first victory
Before Calil Burnett began to make his cut upfield near the sideline, South’s defense presented no openings.
In fact, three South defenders were swarming Burnett, leaving no visible angle for a productive play. Then Burnett planted his foot, catching the nearest defender off-balance and leaving the other two in his wake with the speed that has made him a star on the track.
Burnett had turned a play of nothing into a 66-yard touchdown, the finishing touches on East’s first victory of the season in a 27-8 win over South on Friday night at Carpenter Stadium.
“I love turning on the speed on the football field,” Burnett said. “It’s just an amazing feeling when you’re running all by yourself like that.”
While it far from a clinic, East’s offense had its most productive outing. The Blue Aces produced more than 300 yards of offense with a balanced split (169 passing yards, 156 rushing).
After South could do nothing with 11 snaps in East territory to begin the game, East capitalized on a South fumble by taking a 7-0 lead on a 10-yard strike from quarterback Dominic Webb to tight end David Kaufman in the end zone.
Another turnover by South, this time in the red zone, set up East for a 12-play, 83-yard drive capped by Burnett squirting loose once again for a 10-yard touchdown.
Burnett finished with 142 yards on 17 carries.
“He’s probably the best well-kept secret in the state,” East coach Brian Byers said. “He’s so dang strong that when they didn’t get him in the backfield, then it’s over with. You’re not going to catch him.”
South squandered its chance to shift the pressure to East, the winless team, in the game’s first 15 minutes. But a turnover on downs and two lost fumbles sank any chances of the Titans taking an early lead, which is something coach Kevin Steiner believes would have altered the course of the game.
“That starts your momentum right there,” Steiner said. “If we could have got a score or two, instead of them, then, obviously, it’s a whole new ball game.”
East wasn’t without its flaws, however.
While the Blue Aces did score a season-high in points and Webb completed a season-high 16 passes, South’s aggressive defense brought Webb down for a loss on 12 of his 20 carries that resulted in a total loss of 73 yards. Webb, thanks to scrambles of 48 and 20 yards, did manage to finish the game with 16 yards.
That was just the risk East is willing to take with Webb in the pocket. Byers didn’t seemed bothered by the amount of sacks, instead focusing on the positives of what East did when it did complete the ball through the air.
Webb completed 16 passes to five receivers with Kaufman leading the way with five catches for 54 yards and two touchdown grabs.
East scored 21 of its 27 points in the second quarter.
“They just brought one more than we could block,” Byers said. “They did a really good job of scheming for us. We knew we were going to take some sacks, but we also knew we could do some good things when we put it in the air.”
South | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | – | 8 |
East | 0 | 21 | 0 | 6 | – | 27 |
E – Kaufman 10 pass from Webb (Thomas kick)
E – Burnett 10 run (Thomas kick)
E – Kaufman 14 pass from Webb (Thomas kick)
S – Neloms 16 run (Bishop run)
E – Burnett 66 run (Thomas kick failed)
Individual Statistics
Rushing – South, Bishop 16-60, Neloms 7-43, Crosby 2-25, Wells 3-15, Binkley 3-(-5); East, Burnett 17-142, Webb 20-14.
Passing – South, Bishop 3-14-9-1, Neloms 0-1-0-0; East, Webb 16-23-169-0.
Receiving – South, Wells 2-10, Neloms 1-(-1); East, Edwards 5-63, Kaufman 5-54, Patrick 2-23, Kelly 2-23, Brown 2-5.
This story was originally published September 26, 2014 at 11:40 PM with the headline "Calil Burnett helps East beat South for first victory."