By Ernie W. Webb III
BURLINGAME – Burlingame ran all of 42 plays on Friday night against Reno County Home School, but that’s all the Bearcats needed in a 94-48 win. Burlingame averaged nearly 12 yards per play and scored 13 touchdowns in a game ending late in the fourth quarter due to the 45-point rule.
“I certainly am not in love with the formula of a shoot-out, but I know our kids are confident in that element,” said Burlingame coach Jeff Slater. “I want us to have that same confidence in a physical, grind-it-out game like we see with Rural Vista this week.”
In a matchup that included more than 800 combined yards of offense and 39 first downs, Burlingame (7-0) was never seriously threatened after outscoring the Sabres (6-1) 28-6 in the final 10 minutes of the second quarter.
During that flurry, Dane Winters had two touchdown receptions (5 and 16 yards) and Drake Skirvin one (19 yards) from JD Tyson, who continued a stellar senior season with 362 total yards. Tyson, who threw for six scores and ran for another three, rushed for 153 yards on just nine carries and completed 10 of 13 passes for 209 yards.
Timmy Roberts had one of the best offensive games of his career, rushing for 124 yards and three touchdowns, all in the second half while the Bearcats pulled away from Reno County.
“Offensively, we executed at a high level,” Slater said. “Defensively, we need to clean some things up regarding our tackling and discipline, but creating three turnovers and applying pressure at times allowed us to do some good things.”
Leading 58-34 after three periods, Burlingame scored five times in the fourth frame on a 1-yard run by Roberts, 19-yard jaunt by Tyson, 31-yard pass from Tyson to Skirvin, Winters’ 5-yard run and a 55-yard bomb from Tyson to Skirvin on the game’s final play.
The Sabres came into the game averaging more than 60 points against Eight-Player competition and cemented their status as one of the division’s top offensive teams with more than 300 yards of offense.
Quarterback Bo Smith, who rushed for 98 yards and threw for 245 more, gave Reno County leads of 6-0, 14-8 and 20-16 with runs of 22, 1 and 2 yards in the opening 14 minutes. Burlingame, however, scored four times in the next 10 minutes to take control and never looked back.
“The message this week was the switch needs to be on, and it needs to stay on. And that will be our message for the remainder of our season,” Slater said. “We have a great group this year, and they really feel confident and want to make a run this November. For that to happen, we need to take it up a notch and stay on that level.”
Skirvin had 105 yards on three receptions and Winters 94 yards on five catches. The Bearcats had 281 yards rushing on 29 carries and finished with 19 first downs.
Reno County had three players with 70 or more receiving yards (Laurence Cable with 103, Bruce Kingsley with 73 and Brecken Guthrie with 62.
Winters and Scott Leandro had interceptions for Burlingame, which hosts Rural Vista next week in the final game of the regular season. That game will determine the district championship. On Friday, the Bearcats celebrated their third consecutive Lyon County League title with a trophy presentation.
“When I took over in 2014, I didn’t know a ton about the Lyon County League, but what I knew was the Madisons, Olpes, Waverlys and Lebos had great tradition and were tough league rivals and had much recent success in football,” Slater said. “Burlingame football was not in the mix. So, I reflect and appreciate our former players and current players, and we take a lot of pride in being at the top of the league. The climb was hard and was made reality years ago by our other teams. These kids we have now grew up watching that and have had a lot of similar goals as those former teams.”
BURLINGAME 94, RENO COUNTY 48
Reno County 14 12 8 14 — 48
Burlingame 16 28 14 36 — 94
First Quarter
RC – Bo Smith 22 run (Run failed)
BHS – JD Tyson 20 run (Dane Winters pass from Tyson)
RC – Smith 1 run (Laurence Cable run)
BHS – Winters 32 pass from Tyson (Tyson run)
Second Quarter
RC – Smith 2 run (Pass failed)
BHS – Winters 5 pass from Tyson (Drake Skirvin pass from Tyson)
BHS – Tyson 20 run (Winters pass from Tyson)
BHS – Winters 16 pass from Tyson (Run failed)
RC – Smith 2 run (Run failed)
BHS – Skirvin 19 pass from Tyson (Pass failed)
Third Quarter
BHS – Timmy Roberts 15 run (Pass failed)
BHS – Roberts 1 run (Winters run)
RC – Smith 3 run (Brecken Guthrie run)
Fourth Quarter
BHS – Roberts 1 run (Roberts pass from Tyson)
RC – Smith 44 run (Pass failed)
BHS – Tyson 19 run (Pass failed)
BHS – Skirvin 31 pass from Tyson (Tyson run)
RC – Cable 14 pass from Smith (Smith run)
BHS – Winters 5 run (Skirvin pass from Tyson)
BHS – Skirvin 55 pass from Tyson (End of game)
GAME IN FIGURES
RC BHS
First downs 20 19
Rushes-Yards 38-93 29-281
Passing 22-34-2 10-13-0
Passing yards 245 209
Total yards 338 490
Punts None None
Fumbles-lost 3-1 1-0
Penalties 6-46 4-30
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Reno County: Smith 34-98, Guthrie 4-(-5). Burlingame: Tyson 9-153, Roberts 14-124, Winters 5-22, Team 1-(-18).
RECEIVING – Reno County: Cable 5-103, Bruce Kingsley 7-73, Guthrie 7-62, Beckim Neidenthal 3-7. Burlingame: Skirvin 3-105, Winters 5-94, Roberts 2-10.
PASSING – Reno County: Smith 22-34-2 245. Burlingame: Tyson 10-13-0 209.