Rough start dooms Burbank Vikings football in Super Bowl loss

VALENCIA — The Burbank Vikings Youth tackle Football program has a successful track record of sending teams to Pacific Youth Football League Super Bowl games in recent years.

The previous three years, the Burbank organization had four teams qualify for championship games, with three earning victories.

The Junior White squad of 12- and 13-year-olds had the opportunity to add to that success Saturday when it took on the Ventura Packers in a Super Bowl contest at Valencia High in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Unfortunately for the Vikings, their fate appeared to be sealed early, as mistakes and a sluggish offense allowed Ventura to take a four-touchdown lead in the first half.

Although Burbank played better in the second half, it was never able to climb back into the game, suffering a 36-14 loss.

In seeing their season come to an end, the Vikings finished 10-2, with their only two losses coming against the same Ventura White (12-0) squad, which included a 32-12 loss earlier in the season.

“I think we came out a little bit timid because we lost to them earlier in the season,” Burbank Coach Brad White said. “We just made too many mistakes and we kind of took ourselves out of the game. You just can’t make a lot of mistakes in a game like this.

“I thought that our guys tried to fight back as much as they could, but then mistakes were just too much for us to overcome.”

The Vikings were plagued by three fumbles and Ventura was successful with recovering two on-side kicks.

A highlight in the game for Burbank was the play of running back Maurice Johnson, who made his presence known in the second half. Despite gaining just 19 yards in seven carries with no touchdowns through the first two quarters, Johnson exploded in the second half, ending with 17 carries for 169 yards and two touchdowns. His two touchdown scampers were for 29 and 60 yards and both were spectacular runs that had him cutting across the field, running over and through opponents and showcasing his speed.

“I like to be able to run the ball as much as I can,” Johnson said. “I felt pretty good running the ball today.”

Unfortunately for the Vikings, their offense proved one-dimensional, as they gained just 23 yards through the air, completing three of five passes.

Passing wasn’t a problem for the Packers, as quarterback Daniel Duran completed 13 of 20 passes for 167 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, using a steady diet of bubble screens and short passes.

The first half was dominated by Ventura, which took the game’s opening possession and drove 53 yards in seven plays to take an early 6-0 lead. Over the first two quarters, the Packers had 231 yards of offense, compared to just 42 for the Vikings. As a result, Ventura went into halftime with a 28-0 advantage.

“We just couldn’t get our offense rolling early,” White said. “And with our mistakes, they were able to put points on the board early. In other games this season, we just didn’t make the kinds of mistakes that we made tonight. ...I guess it just wasn’t our night.”

Burbank finally got on the board and cut the lead to 28-6 with 9:13 left in the third quarter when it scored on its first possession of the second half, punctuated by Johnson’s 29-yard score.

Johnson tallied his second touchdown with 3:34 remaining in the game to make the score 36-14 after quarterback Luke Martinez connected with Luke Boehm on a two-point conversion.

Myson Ryan gained 50 yards in eight carries for the Vikings.

“Even though we didn’t win, even to get to this point and play in this game they’re winners,” White said. “There are some very good teams in the PYFL and just to get to this level is amazing. They worked very hard to get to a Super Bowl and they deserve a lot of credit for that.”