By Rick Assad
Let’s make one thing clear after two nonleague football games: Burroughs High can score points.
On Friday night at Fillmore, the Bears tacked on 34 first-half points and cruised to a 41-14 thumping.
In two games, Burroughs has tallied 10 touchdowns and has allowed 14 points after shutting out visiting Harvard-Westlake 28-0 a week ago.
While the two wins are always nice, Jesse Craven, the Burroughs coach, doesn’t want to get too far ahead of himself.
“It’s always great to win,” he said. “We showed improvement from last week, but we have an extremely tough test next week with St. Genevieve.”
The Bears (2-0) pulled ahead 20-0 after the first quarter and added two touchdowns in the second period for a 34-7 edge.
“Offensively we were able to get the run game going a bit tonight and overall, the defense has been solid but again both sides of the ball have a lot to improve on,” Craven said.
Burroughs led 7-0 on a long scoring run with 10:34 left in the initial frame.
The Bears moved in front 14-0 when senior quarterback Chris Kulikov nailed senior wide receiver/outside linebacker Alex Valenzuela with a touchdown pass after recovering the onside kick.
Though Kulikov has two wins under his belt, Craven knows he can be even better.
“Chris was much improved this week from last week and we hope that he can continue to grow and develop his game week after week,” he said. “So far, he has done a really nice job leading our offense the past two weeks.”
Late in the first quarter, senior running back/wide receiver/cornerback Noah Frankel added a 10-plus yard scoring run with one minute left to make it 20-0.
With 10:03 remaining in the second period, the Flashes (1-1) scored to cut the advantage to 20-7.
Senior wide receiver/outside linebacker Santiago Sanchez checked in with a 25-plus yard scoring tally that gave the Bears a 27-7 edge and the lead swelled to 34-7 when Kulikov and senior wide receiver/free safety Ethan Hubbell collaborated on an 85-yard pass and catch as 3:39 remained before halftime and the Bears ahead by 27 points.
“I thought our guys did as we were told and executed better than the week prior,” Kulikov said of the team. “There are definitely many things a lot of guys need to fix and touch up on, which I’m included. But overall, I thought we came in with great tenacity and fight and that is what separated us. And for me I don’t have much to say. I’m doing all I can to get closer and closer to our main goal.”
After six quarters this season, Burroughs has outscored two opponents 62-7.
Fillmore added a second touchdown in the third period and sliced the Bears’ cushion to 34-14 which was the score at the end of the third quarter.
Sanchez scored his second touchdown of the evening on a short run in the fourth quarter that capped the scoring.
The Bears travel to the Valiants next Friday for their third nonleague game this season and the contest will commence at 7 p.m.
