The Burbank High football team may be on the short end of the scoreboard, but coach Adam Colman is trying to get his team ready for the tough challenges that lie ahead.
Friday night Burbank ran into another tough challenge, as it faced Golden Valley at Canyon High in Canyon Country.
For the second week in a row, Burbank fell short in a 43-28 defeat.
“We played well against Moorpark, but football is not a do it once and you’ve done it. You have to prove it every week. I think we got rolled into a sense of complacency,” Colman said. “Both with our performance and them not having had a game, what we have to go off of the kids look at their record and think oh that’s great. They were playing in the Foothill League. That’s not a (typical) 2-8 team. They were young last year. We know the Foothill League is a battle, no matter what place you finish.”
Burbank had a difficult time stopping Golden Valley’s 6-foot-4, 210-pound running back Johnathan Kaelin. Kaelin rushed for 289 yards in just 13 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns.
“On film he stands out more as a receiver,” Colman said. “He was tough to tackle.”
Burbank got a fine performance from junior quarterback Aram Araradian, who finished the game 28 of 40 for 365 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Golden Valley led 15-0 before Burbank got on the board with 8:07 left in the first half as Araradian and Isaac Glover hooked up on a 32-yard touchdown pass.
Down 21-7 late in the first half, the Bulldogs missed two great opportunities to make things interesting as Golden Valley was twice called for roughing the passer that gave the Bulldogs automatic first downs in the red zone.
Burbank got as close as the 4-yard line with 12 seconds left in the half, but fumbled to ball away, allowing the host Grizzlies to go into the intermission up by a pair of touchdowns.
Glover scored on a 7-yard run with 9:46 left in the third quarter to make it 28-14.
The Bulldogs actually scored a touchdown on the one play that Araradian had to sit out after limping off the field.
Kuba Raymond threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Pena. Araradian immediately returned for the two-point conversion as he hooked up with Vincent Vang.
Burbank added another touchdown with 6:35 to play as Araradian hooked up with Ben Burnham on a 15-yard touchdown.
