The Burbank High boys’ water polo team had its ups and down Thursday night when it faced visiting Camarillo High in a nonleague match at Burroughs.
But if there was one weakness, the son of one of Burbank’s own was to blame.
Reynold Owings scored a match-high nine times as the visiting Scorpions defeated the Bulldogs 20-17 in a nonleague match.
Owings is the son of Burbank Battalion Fire Chief John Owings.
“The team played well. They came through from the second to fourth quarter. It was a high-scoring game, but we kept them off,” the younger Owings said of his team.
Burbank (1-2) got off to a slow start, but fought hard in the second half and nearly overcame a six-goal halftime deficit.
“We were in zone in the first half and we got scored on 13 times so at halftime we regrouped and adjusted,” Burbank coach David Arakelyan said. “We started playing more of a press. Our center defender did a really good job of fronting in the second half. We were able to get a few more steals and get some momentum going.”
Owings scored the first goal of the match less than a minute after the start and five of his team’s seven goals in the first quarter.
Jack Babelyan tied things at one with a left-handed shot into the right corner.
Avvo Ilangesyan also had a first-quarter goal and Daniel Gemdzhyan had a pair of back door goals late in the period to help keep the Bulldogs within striking distance.
Camarillo (1-0) scored twice more to start the second quarter, before Ilganesyan scored at the 5:44.01 mark to cut the lead to 9-5.
Babelyan and Michael Bakrgyan also had second-quarter goals for Burbank.
The Bulldogs began the second half on a 4-0 run as Ilangesyan scored twice and both Jack and Daniel Babelyan each had goal.
Owings scored at the 4:14.62 mark of the period to end the Bulldogs’ run.
Anthony Gemdzhyan also scored in the period for Burbank.
Trailing 15-12 going into the fourth period, Burbank hung tough but could only close the gap to within two goals.
That came when Illangesyan, who had a team-high six goals, scored on a 5-meter penalty shot with 40.77 seconds left.
