Railroaders' historic season comes to an end
Railroaders' historic season comes to an end
Plus, The Burleson Buzz debut of "The People of Burleson"
Hello readers! Welcome to another edition of The Burleson Buzz Weekly Newsletter. As always, thanks for reading.
Both the Elks and Spartans won last week—giving the Elks their first win under new head coach Phillip Tanner and keeping the Spartans undefeated—but unfortunately we at The Burleson Buzz had to miss both games.
What The Buzz did cover—thanks to Ashton Nicks—was the Cleburne Railroaders’ first-round elimination from the playoffs after their historic regular season.
In non-sports content, Brandon Crisp brings you the latest from his series, “The People of Burleson,” featuring Burleson City Council member Victoria Johnson—who apparently wants to be a pilot.
Brandon will also be bringing us a recap of the last two city council meetings—where the council finalized the latest budget and raised property taxes—later.
I’m no longer celebrating birthdays or going out of town so I expect to be covering at least one football game myself every week for the rest of the season—starting with Centennial’s game against Ennis at Burleson ISD Stadium Friday—while Lonnie Freeman continues to cover Elks football.
I really appreciate you reading this newsletter. Enjoy!
—Cody
Railroaders fall in division series to end historic season
Ashton Nicks
CLEBURNE and CHICAGO — After finishing the regular season with the best record in the league, the Cleburne Railroaders lost to the Chicago Dogs in the East Division Series for the second straight year.
Chicago (55-45 in the regular season) beat Cleburne (60-40) two games to one in the best-of-three opening round of the 2024 Wolff Cup Playoffs. Cleburne lost games two and three in Cleburne after winning game-one in Chicago.
The American Association’s best regular-season team, the Railroaders had reason for optimism entering the 2024 Wolff Cup Playoffs matched up with a familiar foe, division-rival Chicago—who Cleburne beat eight times in 12 regular-season games in 2024.
The reasons for optimism grew when Cleburne won game-one 6-3 Wednesday in Chicago behind a good performance from starting pitcher Johnathon Tripp.
The People of Burleson: Victoria Johnson
Brandon D. Crisp
Burleson City Council member Victoria Johnson is wildly active within the Burleson community and is dedicated to making sure that the city and everyone around her is successful. She’s lived in Burleson most of her life after moving here at the age of five and only moving away temporarily for college.
On a normal day for Johnson when she’s not getting her kids ready for school or doing chores around the house, she spends a lot of time in meetings for both her place on the city council and her role in the North Central Texas Council of Governments, where she currently serves as the Vice President. She also volunteers in the art room and in physical education and participates in the Parent Teacher Organization at The Academy of Nola Dunn–where her two children attend school–and participates in the Rotary Club.
Brad Allard, a former Burleson High School teacher of Johnson and current host of the Mr. Allard’s Neighborhood podcast, says Johnson is a “wonderful” person who’s “devoted to her family and to this community.”
“[Johnson] has always been deeply interested in government and policy,” Allard said. “When she was a student in my classes at BHS, she was very much invested in learning about how to make government work and how to develop the best policies. She was, and is, a very bright and mature young woman. Plus she’s devoted to her family and to this community.”
This community is what Johnson loves most about Burleson.