Burnham Bulldogs finish season undefeated; tops Kish in title tilt

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: November 6, 2022

By Kenny Varner

LEWISTOWN – Going into Sunday night’s finale of the Central Keystone and Cheer League Championship weekend, the Midgets took center stage as the undefeated Burnham Bulldogs went up against the feisty Kish Indians team.

Burnham would open the game quickly, scoring 26 first half points en route to the 32-6 victory in the Midget Championship game.

“I couldn’t be happier they came out and jumped on them early in the first quarter. We kind of talked about it all week at practice,” said Burnham head coach Anthony Everly. “We told the older kids they needed to score quick and get up so we could get all the younger kids in. We have 21 kids so with 10 of them not starting so it isn’t always the easiest so we had it done by the fourth quarter.”

The Bulldogs started their first drive from the Kish 40.

It took just five plays for Burnham to find the end zone as Brayan Aurand picked up 33 yards on three plays, getting the ball to the two. Aurand ran for 74 yards on the afternoon.

From there, Landen Bowen muscled it in from two yards out, the Bulldogs connected on a 2-point conversion and led 8-0 with 7:42 left in the opening period.

On the kick off, Burnham kicked an onsides kick and it was successful as Asher Pearce recovered the ball on the Indians 49.

Burnham showed the can also score on a time consuming drive.

The Bulldogs mounted a 12-play drive, connecting on four passes.

With the ball on the Indians nine, Burnham went to the air when Austyn Martinez found a wide open Landen Bowen for the 9-yard TD reception. The PAT was unsuccessful as the Bulldogs led 14-0.

Kish got the ball for the first time but it only lasted one play as James-Adam Pearson was able to scoop up a fumble.

Two plays later, Bowen got the handoff and scored from eight yards out, upping the lead to 20-0.

From there both defenses took control as the two would exchange possessions five times before Burnham would have one last crack at the scoreboard. With time running out and on the Indians’ five, Burnham handed it off to Rowan Deamer and he took it from there.

When the dust settled on the first half, Burnham led 26-0.

Coming out of the intermission, the Indians came out fired up and refused to quit.

With the ball starting on their 36, the Indians went to a healthy hand offs to Eliah Henderson. Henderson finished with 111 yards rushing.

Kish marched their way downfield a 13-play drive culminating in a 6-yard TD pass to Landon Rhodes, cutting it to 26-6.

“The boys played their butts off. I’m super proud of them. I don’t think anyone expected them to be back here,” said Kish coach Nick Wolfkiel. “They worked extremely hard the whole year. This is the most work I’ve seen our team out in with every effort to get back here. That was just a tremendous Burnham team. It was just hard to move the ball on them.”

Burnham rounded out the game with a late touchdown catch by Bowen to end the scoring at 32-6.

The Bulldogs complete the season undefeated and untied on the year.