Going from 8 players to 11 players no big deal for BGM in season-opening football game

Some trepidation. As you had to and have to expect.

BGM has moved up a class this fall, which means it’s playing a different game altogether.

The Bears are in Class A. That’d be football with 11 players, after being an 8-player program the previous five years.

Bigger field, longer field, more guys on the line of scrimmage, more guys overall. That’s an adjustment.

“There is some anxiety coming back to 11-man,” said head coach Jared Burns. “The state handed us the schedule that we got, and I wouldn’t say I was surprised because that’s usually what they do to us.

“It was kind of a big ‘Welcome back to 11-man,’ getting to play Madrid and Earlham and Lynnville-Sully.”

And Columbus Junction in the season opener last Friday, which turned out to be a very nice, 47-14, victory. The game was played at Muscatine, a neutral site, because Columbus Junction’s newly seeded field had been inundated by rain.

BGM led at halftime, 19-14, but put things to bed with 20 unanswered points in the third quarter. Incidentally, Midland, which also is transitioning from 8-player to the 11-player game this season, also won its opener last week.

“Columbus is tough, they’re physical,” Burns said. “It was a really good game in the first half, and we got challenged physically pretty much the entire game. I was pretty proud of the way the guys on the offensive line played throughout the duration of the third quarter especially. We really challenged them at halftime. They are a talented, athletic group. They’re big and have an opportunity to be physical when we do it consistently.

“Columbus played everybody within a yard and a half of the football, so we were just able to do a good job blocking. We put a scheme together at halftime, Beau got out in space and took care of the rest of it.”

Beau Burns, the coach’s son, had a immense game. The senior quarterback rushed 30 times for 427 yards and six touchdowns, threw for 118 yards and another touchdown and added a two-point conversion run.

He also had two tackles and an interception from his free safety position on defense. He punted once for 18 yards, but you’ve got to give the kid a pass for that shank.

“Felt like everything was going the right way,” he said. “Our linemen did a great job of blocking and opening up some huge seams. So, yeah, it was really fun ... I had a couple of pretty long runs, but I didn’t expect it to be 400 (yards) or whatever it was.”

Beau Burns essentially was a video-game performer in the 8-player game, but being able to do what he did Friday in 11 player was next level. His rushing performance tied him for 15th-best all time in the state in the traditional game.

“He’s finishing his runs a lot better this year,” Jared Burns said. “He spent a lot of extra time in the weight room, and it has really paid off. He’s faster than he was a year ago, a lot tougher than he was last year.”

“It was definitely different at the start, but I’ve kind of gotten used to (11 player) after we had a couple weeks of practice,” Beau Burns said. “I played 11-man when I was, like, in youth football, so I was not really used to it. But I did grow up playing it some ... I felt like when I got into space (Friday), there was definitely more space to run. Passing wise, it’s definitely way more crowded. You’ve got to be smarter with the ball.”

Coach Burns said his team is running pretty much the same offense it did last season, with a couple of tweaks. That’d be spread.

BGM knew well ahead of time it was going back to the 11-player game, using an exemption to remain in 8-player the previous two seasons. The Bears play Friday night at Colfax-Mingo (0-1).

“I think there was an initial apprehension because that was all they knew. These guys have only played 8-man,” Jared Burns said. “I think getting off to a good start really helped. We actually played a JV home game (Monday night), and all the varsity guys were down there watching and heard comments about how weird it was to watch 8-man because we’re playing 11-man now.”

Comments: jeff.johnson@thegazette.com