By Rick Assad
Quickness on the perimeter and quick-strike scoring ability dominated the action when the Burbank High football team hosted Hoover at Kemp-Kallem Field on Friday night.
Quarterback Deshawn Laporte unloaded seven touchdown passes and Elijah Pendelton grabbed three and Chase Miles snared two while Exodus Freeman and Tyler Hudson each caught one en route to a 69-0 thrashing in a Pacific League game.
Burbank football head coach Hector Valencia was pleased at the lopsided triumph.
“Defensively I liked the reaction,” he explained. “Players got their assignments and played fast because they knew what was asked of them. A few big [scoring] plays got called back, but the team reacted by just doing another one.”
The Bulldogs played offense, defense and special teams with focus and determination.
“All three teams did great. Special teams as well,” Valencia said. “With some big returns and capitalizing on a kick down field and getting it back.”
The Bulldogs took a 14-0 lead into the second quarter and after tallying five touchdowns led 49-0 at the intermission.
Burbank (6-2 and 4-1 in league) tacked on three touchdowns in the second half and kept Hoover (2-6 and 0-5 in league) from getting into the end zone.
Laporte’s 26-yard scoring pass to Miles (three catches for 61 yards), a senior wide receiver/cornerback, with 1:43 left in the first period made it 14-0 and capped a 65-yard, four-play march.
When Laporte tossed a 46-yard scoring toss to Pendleton (94 yards on four receptions), a senior wide receiver/cornerback, with 8:48 remaining in the second half, the Bulldogs were in charge 28-0 after the march consumed 46 yards on two plays.
Laporte added an 11-yard strike to Pendleton thirty-five seconds later as the lead swelled to 35-0 and ended a 26-yard, two-play trek and came after a kickoff that the Bulldogs recovered after the Tornadoes were slow in reacting to field it.
When Freeman (50 yards on two catches), a senior wide receiver/slotback, grabbed a 10-yarder from Laporte midway through the second frame, Burbank led 42-0 on the one-play, 10-yard drive after Pendleton’s 49-yard punt return.
Laporte’s 26-yarder to Pendleton with twenty-two seconds left in the same period made it 49-0 and followed a 75-yard, nine-play drive.
“I liked how we came out as a team and executed,” said Laporte, a junior who completed 12 of 19 attempts for 269 yards and no interceptions.
With a running clock for much of the second half, Laporte drilled Miles with a 20-yard bullet as 9:45 remained in the third quarter as Burbank’s advantage became 56-0 and climaxed a five-play, 65-yard march.
Hudson (64 yards on three catches), a junior wide receiver/outside linebacker/safety, snared Laporte’s last scoring pass, a 45-yarder with 3:47 left in the third period as the margin became 62-0 that concluded a 47-yard, two-play excursion.
Burbank turned in two interceptions into touchdowns as senior wide receiver/cornerback Noah May-Vaughn returned an errant pass into a 58-yard score with 9:03 remaining in the first period for a 7-0 lead and after senior wide receiver/linebacker/safety Johnny Sale added a 52-yarder early in the second quarter it became 21-0.
Burbank’s final tally of the evening was a 10-yard burst from junior running back/linebacker Troy Wells with 8:55 left for a 69-0 cushion and finalized a two-play, 38-yard march.
Burbank’s next action will be Friday versus Glendale at Moyse Field in a league game with a 7:00 p.m. start.
