Friday, August 31, 2007

Decatur football coach Kyle Story knows his team has a lot of work to do to get back into championship form. He didn't expect to see perfection in Friday night's season opener against Burkburnett but he wanted to see improvement from the Kennedale scrimmage last week.

The Eagles took a step forward against the Bulldogs. However, it was not a big enough step to earn a victory as Burkburnett defeated DHS 16-13 in overtime.

Burkburnett appeared to have the game wrapped up in regulation. With 54 seconds left to play and leading 13-10, BHS's Brandt Jalowy intercepted Decatur quarterback Justin Unger at the Bulldogs' 30-yard line.

The 350-pound nose guard rumbled 20 yards to midfield where he fell and was stripped of the ball. Unger redeemed himself by recovering the ball and giving his team a new set of downs at the DHS 47.

Unger then hit a wide open Zack Zamzow down the BHS sideline on a 50-yard heave. Tailback Josh Trant pushed the ball inside the 1-yard line to set up Jose Lira's game-tying 18-yard field goal.

Lira was just left on a field goal try in the first overtime. The Bulldogs answered with a 6-yard run by Lyn Barnes to seal the upset.

"There was definitely improvement from last week. I thought the defense stepped forward and gave us a chance to win," said Story. "There is clearly more room for improvement but we've got time to get better, and we will. This is just one game - we still plan on playing in week 11."

The season-opening loss was the first for the Eagles since losing 42-12 to Pilot Point in 1999. Its also the first home loss since a 24-17 setback to Lake Worth in 2005.

The Decatur offense struggled from start to finish. Quarterbacks Tim Metts and Unger took turns under center. Neither were able to jump-start the unit.

The Eagles only touchdown of the game was scored by the defense early in the second quarter. Matt Schooling picked off QB Jason Beach and returned it 19 yards to the end zone. Lira was good on the kick to put the locals up 7-0.

Burkburnett evened things up just before intermission. Beach completed passes of 34 and 28 yards to Keaton Green to set up his one 1-yard touchdown run. Derek Devereaux's kick tied the game 7-7 at halftime.

The DHS defense kept Burkburnett at bay most of the night. Fredy Pacheco, Jarrod Morris and Tyler Robbins came up with more than a dozen tackles to keep BHS out of the end zone for the rest of regulation.

The Bulldogs picked off Unger midway in the third period to set up their next score. Three plays later Devereaux split the uprights from 25 yards to put BHS ahead 10-7.

Lira evened the things up on the first play of the fourth quarter. He had plenty of distance on a 45-yard field that knotted the score at 10-10.

The battle of kickers continued late in regulation when Devereaux booted a 24 yarder to give the Bulldogs the lead again at 13-10.