Thanks to a winning day at the Bandera State Qualifier Tournament earlier in the summer, the Bulldog 7-on-7 team is headed to the state tournament.

This isn’t their first big show. Burnet qualified for the state tourney three other times since 2002. The biggest difference is the new format that was put in place in 2007 to let small schools play against other small schools. In their first three appearances (2002, 2003, 2006) the Dawgs matched up against schools of all classes. Starting tomorrow at 1 p.m., the Bulldogs will play in a 32-team tourney against 1A-3A teams.

The Bulldogs will play their first three games in pool play against Lovejoy, Palacious and Whitney, all three who are at their first state tournament. Once pool play has been completed, the top two teams from each pool will advance to a single-elimination championship bracket while the bottom two teams from each pool will play in a single elimination consolation bracket. The consolation and championship games will be played on Kyle Field at noon and 1 p.m. on Friday.

“We matched up really well with Marble Falls this year, and they qualified for state at the Westwood tournament. That’s a really hard tournament. The boys fell that if they played that well against Marble Falls, they are in a really good position to win some games at state,” said one source close to the team.

The Bulldogs have spent most of their season picking apart defenses with a solid passing game. Their quick receivers have given most all defenses faced problems matching up.

A 30-minute wrap-up of the tournament, called “Under the Lights”, will be aired on Fox Sports Southwest on Sunday, July 26 at 10 p.m., and again on Wednesday, July 29 at 11 a.m.