Knowing it would likely be facing its toughest opponent in the regular season, the Burroughs High football team handled itself well in the first quarter.
Then things quickly spiraled out of control for the Bears the remainder of the way.
The second quarter proved to be the downfall for Burroughs, which yielded 35 points in a 48-14 Pacific League road defeat against powerhouse Pasadena on Friday.
Pasadena (6-1, 2-0 in league) entered the season having won two straight league championships and reached the CIF Southern Section Division VII semifinals last season. With many of their returners in place, the experienced Bulldogs cruised to their second-straight lopsided league win against a Burbank-based team.
Pasadena handed Burbank a 61-7 defeat Sept. 29 and looked to get the jump on Burroughs (5-2, 1-1).
Burroughs, which began league play with a win versus Crescenta Valley, held its own with Pasadena in the opening quarter before the talented Bulldogs pulled away.
“That’s a great team,” Burroughs coach Jesse Craven said. “We made too many mistakes in the second quarter and they took advantage of them quickly. They are an explosive team.
“We tried to get it going on offense and we had some trouble. We also missed some tackles and gave them a short field a couple of times.”
Pasadena opened the scoring on a 27-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Indiana Wijay to wide receiver Baylin Brooks with 8:38 remaining in the first quarter to make it 7-0.
Still in the game, the Bears looked to turn things around in the second quarter. It didn’t materialize.
Pasadena scored five touchdowns in 11 minutes to turn aside Burroughs.
Wijay, who completed 15 of 17 passes for 178 yards and six touchdowns, tossed a 19-yard scoring pass to Cameron Mitchell in the back of the end zone to extend Pasadena’s lead to 14-0 with 11:33 remaining in the second quarter.
Pasadena made it 21-0 on a 79-yard touchdown run down the ride side by running back Micah McGavin with 8:25 left in the first half.
After the Bears fumbled on the ensuing possession at midfield, the Bulldogs made it 28-0 on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Wijay to Michael Liggins with 5:12 to play in the quarter.
A little more than two minutes later, the Bulldogs grabbed a 35-0 advantage on a 15-yard touchdown strike from Wijay to Camden Jones. Pasadena closed out the first-half scoring with 1:06 left on a 43-yard touchdown pass from Wijay to Brooks (four catches for 94 yards) to make it 42-0 and signaled a running clock for the entire second half.
Jones caught a three-yard touchdown pass from Wijay to give Pasadena a 48-0 lead with 8:29 to play in the third quarter.
Burroughs finally found a positive note when running back Marcus Manahan scored on a one-yard run to cut the deficit to 48-7 with 43 second remaining in the third quarter.
The Bears wrapped up the scoring on a eight-yard touchdown run from quarterback Chris Kulikov with 4:18 to play in the fourth quarter.
“We were able to take away a positive by scoring our first touchdown on their first-team defense,” said Craven, whose team is 1-2 on the road this season. “The biggest thing to take away from here is how we handle adversity. We handled it after we lost to Harvard-Westlake [on Sept. 23]. We have to dig deep and respond in our next game.”
Kulikov completed seven of 16 passes for 84 yards. Manahan rushed for 56 yards in 16 carries.
Burroughs will next participate in a league home game against Muir at Memorial Field at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Bears will then wrap up the regular season with league home contests versus Arcadia on Oct. 21 and cross-town rival Burbank on Oct. 28.
