Late comeback by Burlington falls short against Hulett

The Burlington Huskies football squad kicked off the season at home against the Hulett Red Devils Friday in Burlington. 

The Huskies fought hard but fell short to the Red Devils 64-58. 

Hulett jumped out to a 24-0 lead early in the first quarter. Burlington responded on a 50-yard touchdown pass to Brac Walker to get on the scoreboard.

After a Hulett score, Noah McMackin scored from 10 yards out to trail 30-14 late in the first quar ter. Hulett scored late to lead 38-14 after one quarter of play.

The two teams traded scores in the second quarter before Burlington scored back-to-back scores on a five-yard run by McMackin and a 25-yard pass from Wardell to McMackin to trail 52-44 at halftime.

Burlington had the lone score in the third quarter on a 20-yard run by Caleb Call to tie the game at 52 going into the final quarter.

After a Hulett score, Burlington tied the game at 58 after a four-yard run by walker. Hulett scores late in the game to regain the lead. Burlington got one last chance to win the game, but an interception sealed the Huskies’ fate as they fell by six. 

Wardell completed 27 of his 36 passes for 421 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions. 

Cohen Schlenker caught 11 passes for 176 yards and a touchdown and had six carries for 33 yards.

McMackin caught seven passes for 100 yards and two scores and had eight carries for 64 yards and two scores.

Walker caught five pass es for 119 yards and a touchdown. Call caught three passes for 21 yards and a score. 

On defense, Walker led the team with 25 points, 10 solo tackles and five assist ed tackles. McMackin had 21 points, five assisted tackles, two solo tackles, a fumble recovery and a blocked kick. Schlenker had 15 points, five assisted tackles and two solo tackles and three pass breakups.

Gotfredson had 14.5 points, six assisted tackles, two solo tackles and 1.5 tackles for losses.

“I thought they showed great heart,” coach Trent Aagard said. “I thought they kept fighting and never gave up after being down so much. I like to see that poise out of our team.

“I thought we started slow. I thought we looked like we haven’t played in a while. I think a couple of kids got a little confidence in what they were doing and started executing better.”

The Huskies make the road trip to Farson to face the Farson-Eden Pronghorns Friday at 1 p.m. The Pronghorns are 11-0 and the defending 1A six-man state champs after defeating Meeteetse 42-30. The Pronghorns also have wins over Guernsey-Sunrise, Encampment twice, Ten Sleep, Kaycee, Dubois, Little Snake River, H.E.M. and Meeteetse during the regular season.

“Most of their kids were seniors last year but they run the same kind of offense,” Aagard said. “I think we need to work on tackling. We miss a bunch of tackles that led to long plays against Hulett. I also like to work on executing our offense better and doing our jobs when we need to.”