Things did not go as planned for the Burroughs High football team Friday night.
The Bears fell behind early and were unable to catch up to host Harvard-Westlake in a 39-14 loss, Burroughs’ first of the season after four consecutive victories.
“Harvard-Westlake came out with a good plan. I have to give them credit. They came out prepared,” Burroughs coach Jesse Craven said. “I don’t think we came out with the same energy and focus we’ve had and that is totally on me.”
Harvard-Westlake (2-2) took advantage of an early Burroughs fumble to score. Josh Dixon scored on a 1-yard run to put the Wolverines up 7-0.
The Wolverines would score three more times in the first half, as kicker Josh Barnavon was successful three times in kicking field goals to make it 16-7.
Burroughs (4-1) finally got on the board as quarterback Chris Kuliakov faked a handoff and then kept the ball himself and ran in a 19-yard touchdown with 6:37 left in the first half to make it 13-7.
Barnavon hit a 40-yard field goal to make it 16-7 just 12 seconds before halftime.
Things didn’t start any better in the second half, as Harvard-Westlake’s Santiago Hernandez scored on a 54-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Henry Wendorf.
Dixon returned a Kuliakov pass for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
A safety was called against Burroughs following a bad snap over Kuliakov’s head.
Wendorf hooked up with Aidan Greenfield on a 50-yard touchdown with 6:04 to play to push the lead to 39-7.
Burroughs was able to the cut the deficit as Kuliakov hooked up with Dilon Webster on a 32-yard touchdown with 4:02 to play.
“Now all we can do is grow from this,” Craven said. “We’ve got a CV team that we’ve struggled with the past few years that we have to go compete against next week.”
Burroughs will face the Falcons at Moyse Field in Glendale next Friday.
