By Ernie W. Webb III
BURLINGAME – All season long, Burlingame dominated opponents with a bruising offense and defense. The Bearcats got a dose of their own medicine from Little River on Friday night, and the taste couldn’t be more bitter.
Little River (11-1) overwhelmed Burlingame (10-2) with its own established brand of smashmouth football, rolling to a 48-0 win while advancing to the school’s third straight state championship game.
“We just did not handle their physicality at all,” said Burlingame coach Jeff Slater. “I feel bad for these kids because we did not get a chance to showcase who we are tonight. This is a tough loss to swallow.”
The Bearcats reached their fourth sub-state game in eight years under Slater largely due to the powerful running and precision passing of senior Colby Middleton, a strong, surprisingly elusive quarterback who had more than 2,500 total yards this year.
Against Little River, however, Middleton rarely had an opportunity to turn broken plays into big ones. A steady stream of blitzes and constant pressure prevented him from building any momentum.
Burlingame had the ball inside the 10-yard line on its first possession after a fumble, but on fourth down, a defender raced in the backfield and dove into Middleton’s legs. He laid on the grass for several minutes before walking off the field with an apparent knee injury. Middleton returned but was not as effective as usual.
“That hit early in the game … he just never seemed to get comfortable after that,” Slater said. “They did a great job of pressuring him all night. The stuff he usually has, whether it was in the passing game or scrambling, just wasn’t there.”
MASTER CLASS
Little River is not only a tradition-rich program with six state championships, but also has arguably the best small-school coach in the state in Kevin Ayers (titles at three schools). That was never more evident than Friday night, as his game plan completely shut down Burlingame’s offense.
“Honestly, I feel like he just gave me a master class in coaching,” Slater said. “He just kicked my tail tonight. Give them credit. They played great and took away everything we wanted to do.”
Little River mixed it up on defense all night, alternating blitzes with fake blitzes. The running lanes Middleton feasted on all year were not there. He finished with a season-low 8 yards running on 26 carries after piling up 1,200 yards through 11 games.
“We really thought we could score with the pass and win with the run,” Slater said. “But they did a great job of cutting off all the lanes. Colby is great at scrambling, and that wasn’t there tonight, especially in the middle. They completely closed the running lanes there.”
The Bearcats got a huge break on the first play of the game when Little River fumbled, giving Burlingame a first down at the 16. But after a couple of Middleton runs netted seven yards, a pass fell incomplete on third down. On the next play, the quarterback dropped back to pass and crumpled to the ground after being hit in the knee.
“Not getting it done on that drive is on me,” Slater said. “What I should have done is continue to run the ball with Colby, because that’s what got us here.”
TOO MUCH LAFFERTY
Burlingame had a chance to get out of Little River’s next drive, as a holding call set up a third-and-15. On fourth-and-7, Braxton Lafferty ran to the left on a keeper around left tackle, then cut back to the middle of the field. He sprinted away from the defense on a 37-yard run, giving Little River a 6-0 lead at the 8:38 mark. Braden Young added the conversion run for an 8-0 edge.
The Bearcats drove to 29 on the next series, but a delay-of-game penalty on fourth-and-1 and incomplete pass on fourth-and-6 squelched their momentum. On the next play, Lafferty rumbled 46 yards for a score and added the conversion for a 16-0 lead.
“That delay of game is my fault,” Slater said. “That’s on me, and I’ll own it. I should have called a timeout there. They took advantage of every mistake we made. Their experience, being in state championship games, it showed tonight.”
Lafferty was a key contributor coming into the season, but he’s emerged as a probable all-state performer this year. Burlingame had no answer for the senior, as he rushed for 251 yards and five touchdowns on 19 carries.
“This will sound funny, but I honestly thought our defense played fairly well,” Slater said. “We got them in third- and fourth-and-long several times, and we let them off the hook. And, once we got behind, we changed our game plan and started throwing the ball more to try and get back in the game. That gave them more opportunities to make plays. It just snowballed from there.”
OVERWHELMED
One of the those critical third-down conversions came on Little River’s next possession. Facing a third-and-9 from Burlingame’s 28, Lafferty broke several tackles during a 10-yard run to pick up a first down. Then, on third-and-10, Lafferty connected with Andrew Smith on a 20-yard pass for a 22-0 lead early in the second period.
From that point on, the rest of the first half felt like survival for Burlingame. The offense continued to sputter, and Little River’s offense was relentless. A 20-yard option pass from Lafferty to Young on fourth-and-4 set up Rylan Konen’s 1-yard touchdown run, and Lafferty’s conversion pushed the margin to 30-0 late in the half. Moments later, Little River led 36-0 on Laffery’s 3-yard jaunt.
“We were really trying to get something, anything positive and get to the locker room to regroup and make adjustments,” Slater said.
In the opening half, Little River outgained Burlingame 223 to 45 in total yards.
ONE MORE MOUNTAIN TO CLIMB
Burlingame’s offense improved in the second half, but the commanding lead Little River built was too much to overcome. Lafferty’s 60-yard run early in the third pushed the advantage to 42-0. The Bearcats got the game into the fourth quarter, but Lafferty’s 40-yard run a few minutes into the final frame ended an otherwise remarkable season.
“I hurt for these kids because I wanted more for them, and to have it end like this stinks,” Slater said. “But this game does not take away from the season this team had. I wouldn’t say it completely came out of nowhere, but it was a nice surprise. We are going to miss these seniors. They set the bar high. I had a blast coaching this team. They were so much fun to coach.”
Burlingame reached the semifinals in 2015, 2016 and 2017, but did not advance past the second round from 2018 to 2021. Despite losing several seniors to graduation and entering the season unranked, the Bearcats won the Lyon County League title and the toughest district in Eight-Player Division I.
“I couldn’t ask for much more from this team,” Slater said. “They took a lot of pride in us continuing to have a good program. I talk a lot about those teams from 2015 to 2017, but this team will be talked about for years to come. Now, we’ve got to figure out how to get over this hump (the sub-state round).”
LITTLE RIVER 48, BURLINGAME 0
Little River 16 20 6 6 — 48
Burlingame 0 0 0 0 — 0
First Quarter
LR – Braxton Lafferty 37 run (Braden Young run)
LR – Lafferty 46 run (Lafferty run)
Second Quarter
LR – Andrew Smith 22 pass from Lafferty (Run failed)
LR – Rylan Konen 1 run (Lafferty run)
LR – Lafferty 3 run (Run failed)
Third Quarter
LR – Lafferty 60 run (Run failed)
Fourth Quarter
LR – Lafferty 40 run (End of game)
GAME IN FIGURES
LRHS BHS
First downs 10 11
Rushes-Yards 32-287 29-9
Passing 3-9-1 10-20-0
Passing yards 53 88
Total yards 340 97
Punts N/A 1-11
Fumbles-lost 2-1 4-2
Penalties 5-35 5-55
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Little River: Lafferty 19-251, Grant Stephens 5-21, Young 4-14, Konen 4-1. Burlingame: Middleton 26-8, Dane Winters 1-3, Matthew Heckman 1-0, J.D. Tyson 1-(-2).
RECEIVING – Little River: Andrew Smith 2-31, Young 1-22. Burlingame: Winters 4-53, Roman Bayless 3-23, Heckman 2-12, Timmy Roberts 1-0.
PASSING – Little River: Lafferty 2-5-0 42, Konen 1-4-1 11. Burlingame: Middleton 10-20-0 88.