Burbank High boys’ water polo coach David Arakelyan wants to make sure his team is ready for its showdown with Burroughs in just a few short days.
So he is having his team challenge three tough opponents before the clash with the Bears.
Friday afternoon was the first of these tests and the Bulldogs survived a sudden-death overtime battle with visiting Chino Hills, winning 18-17, in a nonleague contest in Burroughs’ pool.
“These three games to just to prepare for Burroughs,” Arakelyan said.
Burbank will play at Damien of LaVerne on Saturday and at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame on Monday.
The win was particularly impressive as Burbank (17-7) never led in the match until the overtime period.
Avvo Ilangesyan scored the game-winnner on a pass from Andranik Bibulyan.
Arakelyan said he scheduled the match after seeing Chino Hills coach Chantz Gladden and his team in a tournament earlier in the season.
“We saw each other and recognized each other from college and we said we should schedule a game,” Arakelyan said.
Chino Hills (17-6) led for most of the match and made things very difficult for Burbank as the Bulldogs had to contend with a zone defense.
“They were forcing our guys to shoot from the outside which I think we did a good job of especially late in the game,” Arakelyan said. “We had to adjust. It was a very up and down game.”
Burbank trailed 8-7 at halftime and 11-10 at the end of the third quarter.
“I knew they were going to be a good match. They are well coached by Davo,” Gladden said. “I was expecting a very physical, up in your face game and it was and both teams played fantastic.”
The largest lead of the match was 10-7 in favor of the visiting Huskies, following a goal by Talan Costello with 4:21 left in the third quarter.
Following a clock malfunction with 4 minutes to play, the rest of the contest was conducted by the use of a stop watch.
Bibulyan , who led the Bulldogs with six goals, scored as time expired in regulation to send the match into overtime.
Burbank took its first lead of the match when Daniel Agazaryan fired a shot into the lower right corner with 1:28 remaining in the first of two overtime periods that each last three minutes.
Chino Hills sent the match into sudden death following a goal by Jacob Walker with eight seconds left in the second overtime period.
Burbank received three goals each from Avet Avetisyan, Ilganesyan and Agazaryan. Hayk Atanesyan had two goals and Arthur Saryan had one.
Jack Capasso had seven goals to lead Chino Hills.
