By Rick Assad
Burbank High’s football team failed to score in the first half in a nonleague game against Birmingham on Friday night.
That deficit proved too steep and too difficult to escape from. Even though the Bulldogs scored three touchdowns in the second half, the team came up short, losing 23-18 at Kemp-Kallem Field.
The Patriots (1-3) came into the game winless, but their schedule was loaded with strong teams, and the Bulldogs (2-3) have also played excellent competition.
Senior running back/linebacker Troy Wells scored Burbank’s first touchdown on a one-yard run and 5:13 left in the third quarter that saw the hosts use 11 plays and march 80 yards. The tally also saw the Bulldogs close the gap to 20-6.
Burbank drew even closer when Wells scored on a two-yard burst as 10:28 remained in the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs employed nine plays across 55 yards. The score now was 20-12.
Burbank’s final touchdown came with 2:18 left on the clock as senior quarterback Damian Corona found junior wide receiver/strong safety Diego Plancarte with a 25-yard laser as the Bulldogs were within five points, 23-18.
“My take of the game is that on both sides of the ball we need to start strong and fast as we showed we can move the ball downfield on offense and get stops on defense but it came in later in the game,” said Corona, who completed 17 of 35 passes for 233 yards.
Hector Valencia is Burbank’s head coach and sees a pattern developing.
“The last two weeks we’ve been a second half team, Unfortunately we were down 20 points,” he said. “We need to be able to finish good drives. We were going great in the middle but we kept stalling. Clearly it’s frustrating. Today we had to earn every score and we had to maintain long drives.”
The Patriots used an opening drive to pull ahead 7-0 as junior quarterback Daniel Kakooza found senior wide receiver Paul Turner with a 53-yard strike as the visitors used four plays and trekked 65 yards.
When senior running back Braylen Morgan scored on a one-yard carry as 2:59 remained in the initial frame, Birmingham’s advantage became 14-0. Kakooza marched his troops 65 yards and used 10 plays.
The margin became 20-0 when freshman quarterback Xavier Johnson nailed Turner with a 24-yard toss as the Patriots needed five plays and moved 50 yards.
When senior Dante Di Loretto connected on a 27-yard field goal, Birmingham seized control 23-12 as 6:53 was left on the clock in the fourth period.
Valencia had enough praise for a number of players.
“[Junior wide receiver/defensive back] Gavin Azizian had a great game (118 yards on nine receptions) and came up with some great plays,” he said. “Diego [Plancarte] (72 yards on five catches) got a bit banged up and he [Gavin] stepped up for his best friend.”
Valencia added: “Troy [Wells] also had some powerful runs (23 rushes for 84 yards) and I think Damian [Corona] is doing a much better job at quarterback,” he noted. “[Senior tight end/ linebacker] Aidan Dagher had a great game on defense making some big hits.”
Burbank plays Centennial [Bakersfield] next Friday at 7 p.m. and at home and Valencia knows it’s not going to be easy.
“We know we have another great opponent ahead of us and we get tested and every week we are learning and getting better,” he said. “Next week we have another opponent that will test us all over again. But that’s what we signed up for, and I would not change anything.”
