On the five-hour return trip from El Dorado Sept. 9, football players who dozed off on the bus were probably seeing visions of tailback Marque Burris, who rushed for over 200 yards and two touchdowns in 27-20 loss. And wishing they could have the ball back.

Har-Ber (1-1), turned the ball over three times and failed to contain Burris.

Burris, who can hurt you even if you’re on your game, could and did take over the game when Har-Ber wasn’t on.

“It was tough because he was so quick, he was singlehandedly a runaway train on us,” said senior outside linebacker Luke Hanson. “But our biggest problem was that we [linebackers] couldn’t get our alignment correct.”

Missed tackles on Burris were also the demise of trying to slow him.

“When we walked on the field we immediately saw a great atmosphere to play football in and the stands were full,” said junior cornerback Hunter Patrick. “We were both anxious and excited to play.”

Har-Ber dropped into an early hole, allowing El Dorado to put up 14 unanswered point out of the gate, and couldn’t climb out of it.

With senior quarterbacks Jon Vaughn and Austin Mayfield still splitting time, turnovers were an issue with an interception, an awful snap, and a fumble.

“They had good speed, but nothing we couldn’t handle; we just had too many turnovers,” said Mayfield.

After halftime, things got cleaned up for Har-Ber and kept the ball without a turnover the entire half. However, it was too little, too late for the visiting Wildcats.

El Dorado’s tailback was the key piece in deciding this one, but Har-Ber’s senior tailback Preston Pianalto had his say too, carrying the ball 29 times for 139 yards and one score.

“I did get a little tired [carrying the ball that many times], but my adrenaline and desire to win kept me going,” said Pianalto.

Expect Pianalto to get the same amount of carries next week when hosting Cabot at Jarrell Williams Bulldog Stadium.  This barring junior tailback Tucker Lee will be back from a minor MCL injury, in which Pianalto and Lee will split time.