The Burroughs High football team did not play a perfect game Friday night when it traveled to face Harvard-Westlake.
But what the Bears did do was that they recovered from their mistakes. The result was a superb 28-6 victory over the host Wolverines.
“It got scary at some points, but we did what we needed to do,” Burroughs coach Laron Johnson said. “Games like this you have to win. If you don’t win games like this you won’t win games like this when it comes to league.”
Burroughs (1-1) overcame a slow start as neither team could get on the board in the first half.
Harvard-Westlake (1-2) kicker A.J. Salo booted a 43-yard field goal attempt wide left with 28 seconds remaining in the first half.
The Bears came out much stronger in the second half.
Quarterback Mingus Allen scored on an 8-yard run with 8:20 left in the third quarter to put Burroughs on the board.
The Bears had a golden opportunity to double their lead moments later when Jamar Saint-Fleur recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff at the Harvard-Westlake 15-yard line.
But Burroughs was unable to punch the ball in.
The Bears eventually doubled their lead early in the fourth quarter when Allen hooked up with Rocco Mellilo on a 10-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0.
But Harvard-Westlake came right back as Kurtis Walter scored on a 53-yard run with 9:14 to play, making it 14-6.
Burroughs wasn’t able to do much offensively on its next series and then ended up giving the ball away in the red zone as the snap to Mellilo, who was the punter was high, forcing him to try to run for a first down instead of kicking the ball.
Harvard-Westlake took over at the Burroughs 15-yard line. But the Bears remained focused. Salo attempted a 29-yard field goal with 6:51 to play, but it was once again hooked wide left even though it had plenty of distance.
Junior running back Matteo Tarca found a hole on Burroughs’ next drive and went 50 yards for a touchdown with 3:33 left. This made it 21-6. Tarca finished with 21 carries for 120 yards.
Mellilo later intercepted a Harvard-Westlake pass to help set up the Bears fourth touchdown. Backup quarterback Brandon Chaparro scored on a 7-yard run with 1:29 to play.
Coach Johnson was really happy with how his team remained tough.
“These kids have been fighting all year long. You have to fight. I think the halftime speeches from all of the coaches let the guys know that we need to be the bully and not the one who gets bullied,” he said.
