Mansfield Summit holds off Burleson in key back-and-forth district dogfight
In a football game that was as exciting as it was important for both schools, Mansfield Summit and Burleson put on a show. There was one tie and eight lead changes in a game that came down to the last second.
Summit quarterback Ian Gebhardt scored on a 16-yard run with 3:41 left in the game and the defense held off two final Burleson drives in a 34-30 win for the Jaguars in a District 3-5A Division 2 game on Friday, September 19, at Burleson ISD Stadium.
“We really expected to beat them because we beat them by a good amount last year, so we got caught slipping, honestly,” said Gebhardt who finished with 144 yards rushing on 12 carries and threw for 110 yards completing 5 of 13. “We ended up going neck and neck with them, but we came out with the win.”
Burleson (2-2 overall, 0-2 in district) was fighting for its district life after dropping its opener last week while Summit (2-1, 1-0), No. 7 in the Star-Telegram Class 5A area rankings was making its district debut after an off week.
“This district is going to be tough,” said Summit coach Channon Hall. “You can see from the scores that everything is kind of nip and tuck, everything’s tight, so you just have to focus and play four quarters.”
Summit defensive back Sebastian Pena picked off his second pass of the game which set up a six-play, 74-yard drive by the Jaguars. Gebhardt found Domonique Young, who made a one-handed catch at the goal line, from 36 yards out on the first play of the second quarter to give the Jaguars a 14-8 lead.
Young led Summit with four catches for 84 yards.
“We were not expecting a dogfight,” said Pena, whose first interception was huge, giving Summit the ball back after a fumble on the kickoff after the Elks’ opening score. “We saw them coming in 0-1 in district and we thought that it was going to be something easy, but nothing is ever easy.”
From that point the game was back and forth and it really seemed that whoever had the ball last would likely win. Burleson quarterback Andrew Sparks gave the Elks a 30-27 lead with 10:57 left in the game, capping a 13-play, 85-yard drive with a five-yard scoring run.
Sparks led Burleson with 105 yards rushing on 24 carries and threw for 145 yards completing 11 of 23 passes. Sparks also scored on a one-yard run in the second quarter.
The Elks had two more possessions after Gebhardt upped the lead to 34-30, but Burleson was forced to punt with 2:49 left. The Elks got the ball back with 57 ticks left and drove from their own 30 to the Summit 47, but lost the ball on downs with 14 seconds left.
Adarion Nettles had a nice night as well for the Jaguars, picking up 156 yards rushing on 20 carries. Nettles opened the scoring for Summit with a 33-yard run in the first quarter and added a two-yard scoring run with 39 seconds left before halftime that gave the Jaguars a 21-15 lead at the break.
“I feel like we’re good enough to beat anybody and I feel like we’re young enough to get upset by anybody,” said Hall. “It’s one of those things. Who’s going to get that lightning in the bottle first and keep it.”
This story was originally published September 20, 2025 at 12:45 AM.