There are three more games left in the regular season and the Burbank High football team knows where it stands, virtually in the CIF Southern Section playoffs.
Friday night host Burbank won the battle of the Bulldogs, 35-14, over Pasadena in a game that was essentially for second place in the Pacific League.
Burbank’s next two games are against Hoover and Glendale, both of which are winless in league.
So now Burbank will aim to work on eliminating the few mistakes that it did make, most of which were on penalties.
“We try to focus on making plays when we’re supposed to and capitalize on mistakes from the other team,” Burbank coach Hector Valencia said.
Valencia said keeping his team sharp will be a challenge in the final weeks of the regular season.
“We have to run our offense in the first half. We cannot just stop practicing and competing,” Valencia said of the idea of playing in some lopsided games.
Burbank (5-2 overall, 3-1 in league) got on the board early against Pasadena as Elijah Pendleton scored on a 12-yard pitch from Deshawn Laporte with 10:29 left in the first quarter.
Pendleton added a second touchdown later in the quarter to give Burbank a 14-0 lead.
Burbank took a 21-7 lead with 6:43 left in the first half when Laporte hooked up with Tyler Hudson on a 1-yard touchdown pass.
Laporte hooked up with Chase Miles on a 13-yard touchdown with 2:20 left in the first half.
Burbank added a third-quarter touchdown when Laporte hooked up with Johnny Sale on a 19-yard pass.
Pasadena (4-3, 3-1) added a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, a 1-yard run by Synncere Pitts.
Defensively Burbank was solid, intercepting Pasadena quarterback Dutch Burbidge three times.
Miles, Noah May-Vaughn and Kaylem Valencia each had an interception.
