Go Friday Night

BURKBURNETT — Burkburnett’s Jay Gould considered not playing football his senior season, wavering until 7-on-7 started in the summer.

The Times Record News Kickoff Classic didn’t produce many big offensive plays Thursday night, but Gould was a part of every single one of them.

Gould scored the game’s first touchdown on a 16-yard run with 8:44 remaining, highlighting the Bulldogs’ 10-6 victory over Sweetwater at Memorial Stadium.

“If I didn’t want to be out here, I wasn’t going to come,” Gould said about his decision to return to football. “I didn’t want to give nothing less than 100 percent.”

He certainly did in the season opener, rushing for 109 yards on 14 carries and catching a 58-yard pass in the first quarter. His 167 total yards were 65 percent of the Bulldogs’ offense.

Both teams struggled offensively for much of the night. It wasn’t too flashy, but the Bulldogs’ final scoring drive accomplished what it needed to. The 15-play march went for 82 yards and lasted more than seven minutes. Jordan Beach’s sideline-toeing catch on third down from Sweetwater’s 26-yard line extended it.

Two plays later, Gould took off right on a toss, but quickly cut left, slicing through Sweetwater’s defense for the 16-yard score.

“That’s Bulldog football. That’s how we like it,” Gould said of the drive. “We just kept pounding and pounding, and they kept getting weaker and weaker. Sooner or later, we’re going to break one, and we did.”

Sweetwater, which gained 181 total yards, didn’t go away quietly. Alex McCoy scored on a 2-yard run with 2:31 remaining, which was set up by Matt Hord’s diving 26-yard reception on a tipped throw.

But Jordan Beach recovered the ensuing onside kick, and the Bulldogs almost ran out the clock.

Sweetwater ran two plays from midfield with nine seconds left, but quarterback Zach Birdwell was sacked as the time ran out, sealing the Burkburnett victory.

“Sometimes you learn more about your team in the tough ones than the big wins,” Sweetwater coach Kent Jackson said. “It would have been easy to fold up the tent at 10-0, but we kept fighting. This is going to make us a better football team.”

The contest was close in the second half only because the Bulldogs missed out on a couple scoring opportunities in the first two quarters. Three times they got inside Sweetwater’s 25-yard line.

But only one of those possessions – Derek Devereaux’s 39-yard field goal – ended with points. Burkburnett fumbled on its first threatening possession, and Devereaux missed a 37-yarder later in the half.

Birdwell led the Mustangs’ offense with 60 rushing yards on 14 carries. Both teams caught only three receptions.

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