By Rick Assad
It was simple mathematics, really, when the visiting Burroughs High boys’ water polo team faced host Burbank on Tuesday afternoon.
Here’s what happened in a nutshell: Four players for the Bears scored three goals or more while the Bulldogs had one player who tallied more than three goals as the visitors proved victorious 16-12 in a nonleague Rio-Pacific Conference match.
Senior attacker Landon Quiambao, junior attacker Logan Vescio and junior utility Daniel Menchaca each found the back of the net four times for Burroughs (2-2) and senior utility Lincoln Morrow added three goals.
Sophomore attacker Roy Yuzna tossed in one goal for the Bears, who led 4-2 after one quarter, 8-5 at halftime and 11-8 through three frames.
Meanwhile, and his performance was incredible, Burbank senior AvVo Ilangesyan was the high scorer in the match as the center tallied seven goals including five in the second half.
Johnny Agazaryan is Burbank’s first-year head coach and believed his team could pull out a win over its rival.
“It was definitely a tough loss today. AvVo did score a lot of goals today, but we were having trouble moving the ball around to get it in,” he said. “Our defense was on the better side today in terms of communication but our constant turnovers is what killed us. We need to work on moving the ball around and passing under pressure.”
Quiambao’s goal with 5:41 left in the second quarter saw the Bears lead 6-3 and Quiambao’s tally with 5:46 left in the third frame made it 9-6 in favor of Burroughs.
In the fourth quarter, Quiambao tallied consecutive goals and they came with 3:25 left that made it 14-9 and with 2:55 on the clock for a 15-9 edge.
Vescio scored once in every period and the opening goal came with 1:16 left in the first period that tied it at 2-2 and Vescio added a goal with 3:37 remaining in the second period that made it 8-3.
Vescio’s tally with 1:02 left in the third stanza made it 11-7 and Vescio contributed a goal with 5:51 left for a 13-8 cushion.
Menchaca scored twice in the initial frame as his shot with 2:06 left made it 1-1 and Menchaca then contributed a goal with forty-one seconds left for a 3-2 lead.
Menchaca’s goal with 3:58 on the ticker in the second period made it 7-2 and Menchaca’s strike with 6:19 remaining made it 12-8.
Morrow’s goal with 6:17 in the second frame extended the lead to 5-3 and Morrow’s goal with 4:33 left in the third period made it 10-7.
With seventeen seconds left in the fourth period, Morrow scored to make it 16-11.
Yuzna’s tally with three seconds on the ticker in the first quarter made it 4-2.
Ilangesyan scored in all four periods and found the range with 5:06 remaining in the first period on a two-meter penalty toss for a 1-0 lead.
Ilangesyan added a five-meter penalty throw with 6:29 left in the second stanza as Burbank (3-2) drew within 4-3.
With 6:07 left in the third period, Ilangesyan’s tally trimmed the Bears’ advantage to 8-6.
After Ilangesyan unloaded a tally with 4:46 left in the same frame, the Bulldogs came within 9-7.
With fifty-three seconds on the clock, Ilangesyan scored to make it 11-8.
Ilangesyan scored with seventeen seconds left in the fourth quarter as Burbank drew within 15-11 and then scored with six seconds on the ticker as the Bulldogs came within four points.
Burbank’s Tigran Hovsepyan contributed two goals in the fourth period and they came with 3:46 left and it sliced the lead to 13-9 and with 2:39 remaining it reduced the advantage to 15-10.
Junior driver Daniel Gemdzhyan had a goal with 1:31 left in the initial period and it gave the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead.
Michael Andinyan also scored for Burbank and his tally came in the second quarter and it cut the Bears’ lead to 8-4.
Junior right wing Narek Sahakyan found the back of the net with twenty-two seconds left in the second period as Burbank got within 8-5.
