The Streak

Photo by City of Burns Flat

A lot of things can happen in a four year period. Our nation elects or re-elects a president. Athletes from around the world compete in either a summer or a winter Olympics. It’s easy to say that four years is a decent amount of time. What follows is the story of the Burns Flat Eagles football team and how they persevered through a challenging four years. 

Burns Flat is a small town in western Oklahoma, located to the southwest of Clinton, with a population of a little over 2,000 people with two gas stations and a restaurant. The town used to be home to an Air Force base but when it closed in 1969, all of its personnel were sent to other functioning bases across the nation. Needless to say, Burns Flat is not really a thriving metropolis. 

Although the town may not have a lot of things, they do have a local school. Burns Flat is home of the Eagles. And like most small town Oklahoma football teams, they sometimes struggle with getting enough players out for the team due to a smaller student body. 

Most high school football teams go through cycles of winning and losing and the Burns Flat Eagles are no different. The Eagles were a perennial 8-man playoff team in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. They were State runner-up in 1992, 1993, and 1999. 

In 2008, Burns Flat was moved up to 11-man football due to enrollment numbers and they would stay there through the 2015 season. During that seven years that they were in 11-man, the Eagles had an overall record of 7-72. They also went through four head coaches, including current head coach Jacob Schneberger. 

But, as you can probably guess, I am not writing this story to talk about a high school football team with an average record. I want to look at about a four year period in Burns Flat football history. 

On October 14, 2011, the Eagles faced the Carnegie Wildcats in a late season game. The Eagles came into the game with a 3-3 record, while the Wildcats had a 4-3 record. By the end of the game, Carnegie had pulled out a 28-16 victory. This would be the starting point for a stretch that no one in attendance of that game would have ever thought possible. 

The Eagles finished out that season with losses to Mangum and Minco. The 2012 season came along and Burns Flat was unable to pull out a victory, going 0-10. The same thing happened for the 2013, 2014, and 2015 seasons. 

Jacob Goeringer was a freshman on the 2012 team and was the only player to play all four winless seasons during the streak. He made it personal not to give up and quit. “Honestly, it wasn’t about the losing for me,” he said. “It was about my pride for my town and the ability to keep going even if we lost every game. I figured if I quit then I would be a quitter the rest of my life”. 

As they prepared for the 2016 season, the Eagles were carrying the baggage of a 43 game losing streak. First up on the schedule was a visit from the Tipton Tigers, who had made the playoffs nine consecutive years. Needless to say, this season was starting on a tough foot. The Eagles lost the game 54-8 and the losing streak increased to 44. 

Current Eagles head coach and Burns Flat alumnus Schneberger, who was coaching at another school during the streak knew his alma mater could do better that they were. “It was frustrating because Burns Flat went from being a football school to being one of the worst programs in the state,” Schneberger said. “I felt bad for the school and the community.”

Up next were the Marlow Central Bronchos, who had gone 9-22 the past three seasons. Senior Cameron Carter led the Eagles with 225 rushing yards on 29 carries and accounted for all eight of Burns Flat’s touchdowns, giving them a 48-42 victory. The streak was snapped at 44 games.

While this is not the longest losing streak in history, it was a long enough streak to gain some attention and teach us all a lesson.

As I sit here trying to figure out how to end this story, Jacob Goeringer’s words stick with me, I figured if I quit then I would be a quitter the rest of my life. In his mind, it was more than just a football game or career, it was life. When life gets difficult, quitting may seem like the easy thing to do. But the easiest things in life are not always the best!

*Special thanks to Nathan Loftiss for his assistance with this story.