If the Burbank High football team thought it was going to run over rival Burroughs Friday night, the Bulldogs were greatly mistaken.
The Bears controlled the clock and most of the first quarter, forcing the Bulldogs to be patient.
Eventually things turned in favor of the Bulldogs, who earned a 42-21 Pacific League victory in the regular season finale at Memorial Field.
“They played the best football that they could play,” Burroughs coach Laron Johnson said. “We tried to make some things happen. We tried to continue it. We’ll learn from it and move on from it.”
Burroughs (6-4 overall, 4-3 in league) will now find out its fate Sunday when the CIF Southern Section releases playoff pairings. The Bears are in a three-way tie for third place in league.
Burbank (8-2 overall, 6-1 in league) is a safe bet to get into the playoffs having won six in a row.
“We put all our heart, sweat and tears into this game,” said Elijah Pendleton, who had three touchdowns for Burbank. (Now) It’s time to move on to the playoffs.”
Burroughs ran 14 plays and went the length of the field before Matteo Tarca scored on a 3-yard run with 3:45 left in the first quarter.
Burbank came right back as Pendleton scored on the Bulldogs’ first play from scrimmage, running 65 yards for a touchdown.
Pendleton gave Burbank its first lead at 14-7 with 8:14 left in the first half as he caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Deshawn Laporte.
Laporte would throw four touchdowns on the night, as he completed 16 of 18 passes for 294 yards.
“We know what we can do. It was just a matter of executing and not shooting ourselves in the foot,” Burbank coach Hector Valencia said.
Burbank added its third touchdown with 1:04 left in the first half when Laporte hooked up with Tyler Hudson on a 37-yard pass.
Joseph Caballero scored on a 3-yard run with 9:22 left in the third quarter to make it 26-7.
Laporte and Hudson hooked up for a second touchdown, this time for 76 yards with 4:28 left in the third quarter.
Burroughs cut the defcit to 36-13 with 2:37 left in the third quarter when Tarca scored on a 1-yard run. He finished with 29 carries for 186 yards.
Laporte and Pendleton hooked up on a 7-yard touchdown with 7:09 to play to make it 42-13.
Burroughs added a late touchdown as quarterback Mingus Allen hooked up with Patrick Lima on a 16-yard touchdown with 38.1 seconds to play.
