The effort was certainly there, but the reality is that Santa Fe High controlled the line of scrimmage when it had the ball against Burbank High Friday night and the host Chiefs came out 52-28 winners over the visiting Bulldogs in a nonleague game played at Pioneer High in Whittier.
Running back Tariq Bush carried the ball 21 times for 235 yards and scored four touchdowns in the win.
“They were definitely more physical, and they pushed us around,” Burbank coach Adam Colman said. “We saw it on film that this kid ran hard. We said we need to gang tackle and swarm.”
Santa Fe (1-0) looked in total command in the first quarter, before Burbank (0-2) started to get back into the game.
The Bulldogs got on the board at the 10:20 mark of the second quarter as Ezekiel Alvarez made a spectacular catch on a pass from quarterback Daniel Zacariaz. The Bulldogs were facing fourth down on the play. Brian Butchko’s extra point made it 20-7.
The Bulldogs then recovered a kickoff that caught Santa Fe off guard. However, the officials were also caught off guard and awarded the ball to Santa Fe nevertheless.
Later in the quarter, Joseph Caballero gave the Bulldogs a boost when he returned a kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown to cut the gap to 27-14.
But Santa Fe managed to grab a touchdown in the closing seconds of the half to give itself some momentum going into the break.
Zacariaz and Alvarez hooked up on an 18-yard touchdown early in the third quarter.
Zacariaz and Caballero hooked up on a 33-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
But unfortunately, those efforts were not enough.
The junior quarterback finished 18 of 32 for 182 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
“We have to rally. We have to dig deep. I think losing a close game last week in a heartbreaking fashion hurt a little more. But it is also like ‘Man, we were this close, if we come back and do it again, we’ll be fine.’ We have a lot to work on and a lot to get better at.”
Burbank will host Castaic next Friday on the school’s campus at 7 p.m. There will be pregame festivities throughout the day as the school celebrates its 115th anniversary.
