By Rick Assad
It was scheduled to be a home boys’ nonleague water polo match for Burroughs High but because the temperature of its pool was too high at 90 degrees, the venue was switched to the Glendale Aquatic Center.
In what proved to be a high-scoring affair on Thursday, two key quarters were enough to give the Bears a 17-14 decision as junior attacker Landon Quiambao tallied a team-best five goals with three being scored in the fourth quarter and senior utility Lincoln Morrow added four second-half goals.
Edward Matevosian led the charge for Glendale (0-2) with six goals while Daniel Davtyan tossed in four goals for the hosts.
The Bears outscored the Nitros in the second quarter by two goals and the third period by one goal and that was the difference.
Both teams showed that they are capable of scoring goals but on the defensive side will likely improve as the season continues.
Martin Ortega Jennison is the Burroughs head coach and was impressed by he saw but also believes the team needs to improve on the defensive side of the ledger.
“They played well and they did great for us scoring but defensively we needed to be better as a whole,” he said of Quiambao and Morrow. “They are both experienced players and bring a lot to the table for the squad.”
Ortega Jennison spoke as to what the team should do to be better defensively.
“But with getting scored as much as we did, defensively we need to press and not allow one on one goals,” he said. “With both players taking early exclusion fouls, we had to go a little deeper off the bench, but the team got the job done.”
The initial frame was deadlocked at 3-3 as Quiambao’s goal with 5:58 left tied it at 1-1 and junior center Roger Zelaya’s tally with 5:31 left on the clock gave Burroughs (1-0) a 2-1 advantage.
When sophomore attacker Kyle Nakaza found the back of the net with 4:14 left, it handed the Bears a 3-2 edge.
With 6:06 remaining in the second quarter, Quiambao unloaded a laser that evened it at 4-4 and senior utility Daniel Menchaca’s tally with 1:19 left knotted it at 5-5.
Junior attacker Logan Vescio scored for the Bears as forty-eight seconds remained that made it 6-5 and with one second remaining before halftime, junior utility Lucas Spratt found the net for a 7-5 lead.
Nine goals were registered in the third frame as Burroughs saw Morrow toss in two tallies.
Morrow’s goal with 1:10 remaining made it 10-7 in favor of the Bears and Morrow added a strike with one second left as the lead became 12-9.
Nakaza’s goal with 6:21 left made it 8-5 and Spratt’s rocket with 4:15 showing made it 9-6. Zelaya’s goal with twenty-two seconds on the clock extended the margin to 11-8.
Burroughs led 12-10 on a goal from Quiambao as 5:21 was left in the fourth quarter and Morrow’s goal with 4:57 on the clock made it 14-11.
The Bears made it 15-11 as Quiambao scored with 4:28 on the ticker and the cushion became 16-11 on a tally from Morrow as 1:11 was left.
Matevosian’s goal on a five-meter penalty toss with 5:10 left tied it at 2-2 in the first and Matevosian’s tally with 6:10 in the second period gave the Nitros a 4-3 lead.
Matevosian nailed two goals in the third quarter as he found the net with fifty-three seconds that cut the lead to 10-8 and one with two second left that trimmed the advantage to 11-9.
In the fourth period, Matevosian scored with 5:09 left that saw Glendale get within 13-11 and on a five-meter penalty throw with seventeen seconds remaining that made it 17-14.
Davtyan scored with 2:50on the ticker in the first period that leveled the score at 3-3 and Davtyan found the range with 3:46 left in the third frame that cut the Burroughs’ cushion to 9-7.
Davtyan scored twice in the fourth period as his goal with 5:42 left sliced the margin to 12-10 and with fifty-seven seconds on the clock that saw the Nitros get within 17-13.
