Burrell uses ground game to earn season-opening win over Jeannette

By: George Guido
Friday, August 26, 2022 | 10:48 PM

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Burrell opened the season with a win over an old nemesis.

The Bucs defeated Jeannette for the first time since 1993 with a 31-10 victory over the Jayhawks on Friday at McKee Stadium.

Jeannette still has a 15-4 lead in the all-time series that dates to 1971.

The Bucs used a bruising ground game, passing the ball just once: a 21-yard pass in the second quarter from Chase Fenner to Gabe Ziccarelli.

“I’m, obviously, pleased. We came out and took care of business,” Burrell coach Shawn Liotta said. “I’m proud of the way our kids physically dominated the football game.”

Burrell ran the ball 50 times and lost yardage just three times.

Senior Antonio Cook ran for 115 yards — all in the first half. Junior Devin Beattie had 11 carries for 67 yards and two touchdowns, and sophomore Mason Jones had 17 carries for 84 yards and a late touchdown.

The result spoiled the coaching debut of Jeannette’s Thomas Paulone Jr.

“We really hurt ourselves, our special teams were atrocious, we were plus-2 in turnovers,” Paulone said. “That’s a great team over there. You can’t hurt yourself playing the type of team Burrell is.”

Beattie took the opening kickoff 54 yards to put the Bucs in early scoring position. Burrell ran 12 plays and ate up 6 minutes, 34 seconds of the first-quarter clock.

A bad snap on a punt resulted in the punter kicking the ball out of the end zone, and the Bucs had a 9-0 lead with 3:35 to go in the first quarter.

Burrell fumbled five times, losing the ball on four occasions, three times in the first half.

“We made some mistakes. We put the ball on the ground there quite a bit in the first half,” Liotta said. “If we don’t do that, the game would have probably been much more out of hand. We need to work on ball security.”

Jeannette didn’t get a first down until the 2:31 mark of the first half, but it lost the ball on downs at the Burrell 32.

A 1-yard sneak by quarterback Chase Fenner and a conversion run by Beattie put the Bucs in front 17-0 at the half.

Jeannette tried its hand at ball control to start the second half. The Jayhawks ran 18 plays from their 8 to the Bucs 8, but they had to settle for a 24-yard field goal by Mitchell Steele.

“I blame that one on me,” Paulone said. “We had the wrong personnel in there. We decided to do something we tried in practice, but that’s on me. That was my call, and I’m the offensive coordinator and I’m sick over that.”

Burrell answered the field goal with a 21-yard run around the right side by Beattie to put the Bucs ahead 24-3.

The Jayhawks then staged a 12-play drive, scoring on a 6-yard pass from Peyton Molter to Michael Mason.

Jeannette, trailing by 14, got a fumble recovery by Jesse McCurdy with 9:49 to go. But an interception by Tyler Maglisco thwarted any Jayhawks hopes of a comeback.

Maglisco returned the ball to the Jeannette 9, and Jones took it in from there.

Cook spend much of the second half on the bench nursing cramps after his strong first half.

Tags: Burrell, Jeannette