Burkhardt, Telford lead spirited effort despite loss

DWIGHT — Dwight-GSW put up a spirited effort in its homecoming game Friday night, but the Trojans came up short in a 49-36 loss to Clifton (Clifton) at Oughton Field.

Austin Burkhardt put on a show for the Trojan faithful, scoring three touchdowns and accumulating 247 total yards.

Facing a Comets squad on a four-game winning streak, the Trojans hoped to build off the momentum of their first win of the season last week. DTHS-GSW jumped out to an early lead on a swing pass from quarterback Connor Telford to tailback Burkhardt. After reeling in the ball near the line of scrimmage, the senior running back cut around a defender, picked up a downfield block, and barreled across the goal line for a 37-yard score at 7:41 in the opening period. Angel Martin converted the point-after kick. Martin made both of his PAT attempts.

The celebration and the early lead didn’t last long as Clifton's Tristan Schmidt returned the ensuing kickoff 75 yards to score. Adyson Martin tied the game with the PAT kick. Central's Martin was perfect on all seven point-after tries.

After forcing a DTHS-GSW three-and-out, Central split carries between quarterback Luke Shoven and running back Jayce Meier to put together a 60-yard scoring drive. A 9-yard Meier run with 1:47 remaining in the quarter capped the drive and made it 14-7.

The Comets increased their advantage with two second quarter Shoven touchdown passes — a 54 yarder and a 7-yard toss — to make it 28-7 with 5:30 remaining in the first half.

The Trojans were looking to get its offense back in gear and head coach Luke Standiford and his staff made an adjustment.

“They were loading up the box so we had to make some adjustments,” Standiford explained. “We started to run the ball to our weak side a little more.”

The change paid off on a 62-yard run by Burkhardt, which started off the right tackle where he found a seam. He was chased down inside the 5.

“They liked to shut down the outside but once we got through to the little guys they weren’t making the tackles,” Burkhardt said.

Caiden Nelson tallied his first touchdown of the season on a 3-yard run with 4:43 remaining in the half to set the board at 28-14.

“Austin and Connor are out workhorses and we lean on them, but Caiden does a really good job at the H-back,” Standiford said. “I told him we were going to get him into the end zone.”

Telford recovered the kickoff on a nifty dash through the first line of blockers and caught the bounding kick in stride. Luhrsen snuffed out the possession with an interception on third down and the teams went to half with the Comets leading 28-14.

Shoven, who finished the night with four passing touchdowns and one rushing score, found Tristan Schmidt 2½ minutes into the third quarter for a 15 yard score. He added a 3-yard scoring run at the 3:45 mark for a 42-22 lead.

In between the Clifton scores, Burkhardt added a rushing touchdown for the Trojans on a 15-yard sweep with 6:41 left in the period. He also added the two-point conversion run, making it 35-22 at the time.

Telford found Thomas Dochterman for a 10-yard scoring pass with 8:54 left in the final period and then converted the two-point conversion run to pull the Trojans to within a dozen at 42-30.

After another Shoven scoring pass to Jared Saathoff, Telford floated a screen pass to Burkhardt near midfield. With the defense sealed inside, the senior dashed down the sideline and outran the defense for a 55-yard touchdown with 1:40 left. Telford’s PAT run was stopped short to end the scoring.

“If could play like that all season we can add a couple more (wins),” Burkhardt said. “Watseka is next week and we’re going there to win.”

Burkhardt's yardage tally came from 163 yards rushing on 19 carries, 108 receiving yards on three catches and 75 yards on kick returns.

Telford rushed for 74 yards on 16 keeps and was 6 of 9 passing for 143 yards and three TDs. He hit four different receivers and threw one interception.

“Tonight was promising,” Standiford said.” We’re improving, you can tell every week. The kids are responding to adversity really well. They bounce back and keep pushing forward.

“We’re working on getting better every week and put together a good game plan to go pick up a second win.”

Standiford noted that Watseka already canceled one game, with Seneca, due to injuries hurting the roster size.

This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: Dwight-GSW Trojans Austin Burkhardt Connor Telford Clifton