By Dick Dornan
myBurbank Sports Editor
Professor Keith Knoop and his class of Indians came to Glendale Thursday night and delivered a thorough lesson of Football 101 to the host Tornadoes of Hoover High. Behind a rushing attack that accumulated 433 yards of offense and a stingy defense which stifled the opposition and earned the shutout, Burroughs crushed Hoover, 63-0, to claim its first Pacific League win of the year.
“They were having a real good time watching their teammates play. They were pumping each other up,” Knoop said of his running backs. “They were excited to be playing well especially after two losses to CV and Muir.”
The trio of Hunter Guerin (124 yards on six carries, three touchdowns), Michael Ospina (116 yards on seven rushes, two touchdowns) and Chance Bell (90 yards on six carries, one touchdown), ran circles around the porous Hoover defense. The way they sliced up the Tornadoes defense you would think they were playing for a steak dinner at Sizzler.
“We dominated them up and down the field with the run game. Lot of yards,” Bell said. “It was a good game.”
“Running backs did well today,” Ospina added. “We had a three-back rotation. We had some fresh legs in there. I feel overall everyone did pretty well. Our defense stepped it up today and stopped them.”
The defense suffocated Hoover throughout the evening. Throw in last year’s 69-0 win over Hoover at Memorial Field, the Indians have recorded back-to-back shutouts vs. the Tornadoes while posting 132 points.
Throughout practice leading up to the game, Knoop preached playing fundamental football against an opponent much inferior to his squad.
“Play sound and fundamental football,” Knoop said. “Make sure that you are doing what you are supposed to be doing. We knew what we needed to do and we did it.”
Guerin, Ospina, Bell, Aidan Anding (two rushes for 58 yards, one touchdown), Erick Hernandez (touchdown run of 23 yards) and Aidan Jensen (one carry for 22 yards) combined to average 18.8 yards per carry including 15 rushes of 10 or more yards, nine carries of 20 or more yards and five runs of 30 or more yards.
“We’re confident. We are just going to do what we do best and that’s play football,” Bell said after the game.
Quarterback Aieson Timagos completed five of seven passes for 55 yards, one touchdown and an interception as he filled in admirably for Andy Amela who is recovering from a concussion suffered against Crescenta Valley.
With the best Italian restaurant in town right across the street from Moyse Field (Scarantinos), it was a feast for the Indians from the very get-go.
Burroughs (3-3, 1-2) scored 14 in the first quarter, 21 in the second for a 35-0 halftime lead; 14 more in the third quarter and 14 more in the fourth to overwhelm Hoover (1-5, 0-3).
Guerin had touchdown runs of one, 64 and 43 yards; Ospina found pay dirt from eight and 48; Bell from 17; Anding from 38; Hernandez from 23 and Timagos connected with Anding on a 15-yard touchdown pass.
The strong effort by the Indians was important considering they came off two consecutive defeats. Next up is a clash at Pasadena on Friday, October 17.
“It was definitely good for the team coming off of two tough losses,” Ospina said. “We played some really good teams the past two weeks. It’s good to come out of this week with a win.”
Sizzler anyone?
