By Rick Assad
One week ago, Burbank High’s football team traveled to San Dimas and emerged with a lopsided victory, but there was just one problem.
A few days later, it was revealed that an ineligible player had participated in the game for the Bulldogs and the win was forfeited.
On Friday night at Kemp-Kallem Field on the Burbank campus, a capacity crowd saw the Bulldogs use a 27-point second half to tally a convincing 41-27 nonleague triumph over Westwood, which is located in Mesa, Arizona.
So for the record, this is the initial win of the season for Burbank (1-1).
Junior quarterback Deshawn Laporte, two-way threat, tossed four touchdown passes with two going to senior wide receiver Exodus Freeman (game-best 152 yards on six catches).
Laporte also found Freeman with a 31-yard toss and 10:44 left in the fourth quarter for a 41-21 lead.
“Me and my team executed with a lot of energy and came out with a big win,” said Laporte, who finished on 22 of 47 for 367 yards and had 10 yards on eight rushes.
Hector Valencia is in his second stint as the Burbank head coach and was impressed.
“I liked that the team rallied behind each other and about going for it on fourth down,” he said. “The defense looked over and said go for it. We got your back.”
Valencia knows he has a team that can score points quickly and a defense that rallies to the football.
“The defense caused some great turnovers with a few interceptions and fumble recoveries,” he said of the four turnovers by Westwood.
Valencia also had positive words for Laporte.
“Deshawn was a little frustrated and being forced out but managed to still get out for some yards but the other team did a great job containing him,” he said.
The Bulldogs (1-1) led 14-0 after the first quarter on a 10-yard strike from Laporte to senior Chase Miles (61 yards on five catches) with 5:55 and then unloaded a 31-yard bullet to Freeman with 1:53 left.
“The game went great on Friday. We prepared all week for formations we would see in the game and how to execute against them,” he said. “The first quarter we came out strong, scoring on offense twice and stopping them on defense. Towards the second quarter they started to catch up and even took a lead going into halftime, but we didn’t get discouraged.”
Miles added: “At halftime we talked as a team and figured out our mistakes. We later adjusted to these mistakes going into the second half and ultimately came out on top with the win,” he said. “I think we played a great team game today, as we all worked together as a team to come out on top.”
The Warriors (0-1) then scored three straight touchdowns as junior running back Keshawn Barkus (154 rushing yards on 21 carries) cut the lead to 14-7 with 6:21 remaining in the second period and came within 14-13 on a 25-yard run by Barkus with 4:05 left.
When Westwood senior quarterback Elliot Reed (12 of 37 for 125 yards and two interceptions) found senior tight end Preston Leavitt with a 12-yard toss and 38.6 second left before the intermission.
Reed also drilled Leavitt with the two-point conversion pass for a 21-14 lead at halftime.
Laporte evened the game at 21-21 with 9:19 left in the third period on a 41-yard bomb to sophomore wide receiver/cornerback/strong safety Tyler Hudson (108 yards on seven catches).
Senior running back Thomas Adzhemyan added a six-yard scoring blast with 7:40 left in the third stanza for a 28-21 advantage.
Senior wide receiver/cornerback Elijah Pendleton (46 yards on four receptions) added a 50-yard scoring run with 5:52 in the third quarter to make it 34-21.
Reed’s six-yard scoring tally with 9:05 on the clock on the fourth frame sliced Burbank’s lead to 41-27.
Senior wide receiver/cornerback Noah May-Vaughn and junior tight end/middle linebacker Aiden Dagher each had one interception for the Bulldogs.
Burbank travels to Reno, Nevada to play a nonleague game next Friday versus Galena.
