This one isn’t going to fade away in the minds of the Burbank High football family very easily.
But the Bulldogs can hope this loss translates into a learned lesson for the program moving forward.
Burbank had one foot into the CIF Southern Section Division 6 semifinals, but had a hiccup or two and ended up losing 14-13 on the road at Roosevelt High of Eastvale in a second-round contest.
“We had an opportunity to take a two-touchdown lead at the end of the game, but we got a little selfish and cocky and it brings the play back,” Burbank coach Hector Valencia said.
Burbank’s Elijah Pendleton intercepted Roosevelt quarterback Blake Nadler and returned it 90 yards for what appeared to be what would have been the nail in the coffin.
Burbank (9-3) would have had a two-touchdown lead with less than two minutes to play.
But the Bulldogs were penalized as a player stayed on top of a Roosevelt player on the ground for too long, resulting in a flag being thrown.
“That play was not even close to the play. It is what it is. At the end of the day, the team that made less errors wins,” Valencia said.
Instead of a touchdown, Burbank, which was penalized 160 yards, was given the ball at its own 15-yard-line.
A few plays later, Burbank had to punt the ball away back to Roosevelt.
Ja’iris Shaw scored the winning touchdown with 22.5 seconds to play on a 9-yard pass from Nadler. The extra point by Roosevelt kicker Kaden Lovell proved to be the difference.
Roosevelt (7-5) actually finished in last place in the Big West League. But the league is led by Division 1 school Corona Centennial and featured three more schools that were in the CIF Division 2 playoffs.
“We play in probably the toughest public school league in the nation,” Roosevelt coach Aaron Crone said. “I’m proud of our guys for playing all four quarters. This week I told them it is going to take all four quarters. Burbank is a great team and has a lot of great players.”
Roosevelt got on the board late in the third quarter, as Aidan Quintanar scored on a 3-yard run.
Both teams played stellar defense as big plays were kept to a minimum.
Burbank broke a scoreless tie with 9:28 left in the first half when Deshawn Laporte found Tyler Hudson on a 25-yard touchdown pass.
The Bulldogs went up 13-0 at the 9:13 mark of the third quarter when Laporte and Chase Miles hooked up on a 31-yard touchdown pass.
Burbank’s defense intercepted a combined four passes from Roosevelt’s two quarterbacks. Pendleton and sophomore Diego Placarte each had two interceptions.
