By Rick Assad
For the second straight season, the Burbank High football team played outside of California.
In 2025, the Bulldogs faced Westwood (Arizona) and walked away with a 41-27 victory.
This time Burbank faced powerful Centennial (Las Vegas) and it was wild and woolly as points were tallied by the boatload.
Centennial is ranked No. 4 in Southern Nevada and is usually a strong Class 5A contender.
The week prior, visiting Centennial lost to the always outstanding Cathedral Los Angeles 52-49.
Last Friday evening, Burbank was defeated 74-41 and despite the setback, there were some strong performances from several players.
Burbank (1-1) fell behind 21-0 after the first quarter and trailed 44-21 at halftime. Centennial (2-0) forged ahead 74-35 after three frames.
One who stood out is senior quarterback Damian Corona who threw four touchdown passes and also had a rushing score.
Another who came to play was junior wide receiver/strong safety Diego Plancarte who snared three touchdown passes.
Senior tight/linebacker/defensive end Kaylem Valencia contributed one receiving score and senior running back/linebacker Troy Wells accounted for one rushing tally.
Hector Valencia is Burbank’s head coach and knew that it was going to be a tough battle against a very good team.
“Overall, I think we came out a little flat. They got up on us on some mistakes,” he explained of the early deficit. “There was a third down and a possible first down and we had an overthrow or we dropped the ball. They took us out of the game a little bit with their offense being very efficient.”
Valencia added: “They took advantage of that so we were down 14 points really quick. We ended up getting a score so we got to within 21-6. Unfortunately, the next play they ran a kickoff to the house so our special team didn’t perform the best and it’s an area we need to improve upon,” he said.
Valencia then gave details to why the score was one sided early.
“We had quite a few missed balls with guys wide open that we overthrew just a little bit that potentially could have changed the game, but that’s football,” he said. “We were able to execute some big scores and score some big points against a really good Nevada team.”
Burbank allowed a second kickoff return later in the game and Valencia hoped to shore up that problem.
Corona said he could have played better but is still proud of what the team did on the field.
“Offensively we had a slow start and weren’t able to convert on first down until the second quarter,” he said. “Then as a team we started making plays and converting a lot of first downs and moving the ball down field and scoring.”
Corona admitted that it took him a while to feel comfortable in the pocket.
“I feel during the first quarter of the game I was struggling, but near the beginning of the second quarter I started moving the ball whether by throwing it or running,” he said.
Corona admitted that he could have played better but he did improve as the game progressed.
“We did score 41 points which I’m proud of. The offense as a whole made a lot of plays such as Diego, Troy, [junior wide receiver/defensive back Gavin Azizian, [junior wide receiver/defensive back Cassius Maydew and Kaylem. They all made good plays that impacted the game.”
Corona continued: “Also, I want to thank my offensive line for protecting me and they also played a huge part in why we scored a lot in this game,” he stated.
It’s only the second game of the season and there is work ahead for Valencia and his staff.
“It’s a learning process,” he acknowledged. “You know where they’re at early in the season, but I think it’s a good loss that we get to figure out what we have to work on and we should see where we go from there.”
Burbank’s next contest is at Calabasas on Friday night with a 7 p.m. kickoff.
