Titans beat Ennis for sole possession of South Central crown

DRUMMOND – What do the Flint Creek Titans and Charlie Bucket have in common?

They both have a golden ticket.

For the second straight week the Flint Creek Titans faced an undefeated, playoff caliber team and for the second straight week they turned them away.

Flint Creek defeated Ennis Friday night in Drummond 34-18, giving them sole possession of first place in the South Central conference as the season makes the clubhouse turn toward the postseason. More importantly the Titans have the tiebreaker over the second-place Mustangs and will play all their postseason games at home should they stay atop the conference at season’s end.

The Mustangs took an early lead when Clintin Buyan hit Nicholas Johnson with a 53-yard scoring pass. The missed the kick but lead 6-0.

The Titans responded with a sustained drive of just over five minutes that culminated with a Tyler Burden one-yard run. He converted the two-point run and Flint Creek led 8-6.

It was a lead they would never relinquish.

Burden added another TD in the second with 3:50 to play in the half, missing on the conversion but giving his team a 14-6 lead.

It lasted only seconds as the Mustangs’ Buyan launched a 63-yard scoring bomb to Cole Kramer at 3:26, edging Ennis within two at intermission, 14-12.

But as the second half opened, Burden literally ran away with the game. He scored twice more in the third on runs of 66 and 65 yards and added a 34 yard run in the fourth. Meanwhile, all the Mustangs could manage was another Buyan to Johnson TD pass in the third.

Burden finished carrying the ball 39 times for 457 yards and five scores. It was an epic performance that came when the Titans needed it most.

“They were just coming hard and they were keying hard on Andrew (Tallon) and I so we were cutting it back,” said the senior running back of the game. “Our line did awesome, I can’t stress enough how much work those guys do up there blocking for us. It’s awesome!”

On the few carries that Burden didn’t make, Tallon collected 35 yards and 127 rushes.

In the loss, Ennis’ Buyan had a solid game passing, throwing two more scoring passes to Johnson and Kramer.

“This was a good game. Two really good teams,” reflected Titans Head Coach Jason Ostler of the win. “(We were) just trying to find that spot where we had the numbers advantage and workin’ it.”

For Mustang Head Coach Mike Speck, his thoughts were more introspective and sure that these two teams could very well meet again.

Later in the game when the Mustangs tried to close the gap, Flint Creek’s Colt Parsons intercepted Buyan to shut down Ennis’ final scoring drive. It was the second interception of the game for the Titans with Tallon having picked off a pass earlier.

“We played hard and played for pride there at the end. A couple of missed tackles and this would be a closer game. (There were) a lot of missed assignments in the red zone and we just couldn’t pound the ball in.”

Ennis falls to 4-1 on the year and in conference play and will host Powell County next week.

Flint Creek’s Homecoming victory improves them to 5-0 on the year, 4-0 against South Central foes. They will head to Cascade next week.

SCORING

Ennis – 6/6/6/0 – 18

Flint Creek – 8/6/14/6 – 34

First Quarter

6:51 EN Buyan 53 yd pass to Johnson TD. Kick failed.

1:32 FC Burden 1 yd run TD. Burden run.

Second Quarter

3:50 FC Burden 50 yd run TD. Run failed.

3:26 EN Buyan 63 yd pass to Kramer TD. Run failed.

Third Quarter