One thing was certain Friday night and that was that either host Burroughs High or visiting Crescenta Valley would leave Memorial Field with their first loss of the season.
In the end, it was the Falcons who made fewer mistakes in a 42-19 Pacific League victory over the Indians.
“We’ve started slow all year. Starting slow killed us,” Burroughs coach Rand Holdren said. “We’re playing catch up. We’ve got to start out better. They came out and punched us in the face.”
Burroughs (5-1 overall, 1-1 in league), failed to score in the first half, despite having great opportunities.
Down 7-0 early in the second quarter, Burroughs had the ball deep in Crescenta Valley territory, but could only get as far as the 6-yard line.
CV (5-0, 2-0) got on the board as quarterback Chase Center scored on a 15-yard run with 7:55 left in the first quarter.
Center hooked up with Colby Rees on an 8-yard touchdown with 6:47 left in the first half to make it 14-0.
The Falcons added a third touchdown in the first half with just 16.9 seconds left, as they took advantage of great field position following a Burroughs punt. Center scored on a 3-yard run.
Burroughs seemed to have broken out of its slump when Nicholas Garcia hooked up with Aiden Forrester on a 7-yard touchdown at the 9:16 mark of the third quarter. Garcia finished 17 of 33 for 234 yards passing
But an 85-yard touchdown run by Maximus Grant following a Burroughs turnover seemed to sway things back to the Falcons’ liking.
“We made some adjustments and started moving the football,” Holdren said. “They (CV) did a nice job. I respect them a great deal and I’d like to play them again.”
Garcia and Forrester hooked up on a 10-yard touchdown with 9:35 remaining to make it 35-13.
Grant scored his second touchdown, a 30-yard run with 5:29 to play to give the Falcons a 42-13 cushion.
Garcia and Carson Cardenaz hooked up on a 6-yard touchdown with 22.4 seconds left in the game.
Burroughs will host Muir High next Friday at Memorial Field in a Pacific League contest. Muir will be coming off of a bye week as its scheduled opponent, Glendale High, canceled the game due to not having enough healthy players.
