Porras, Pendleton lead Burbank football past Pasadena
BURBANK — It was not easy for some of the Burbank High football players to avoid having their minds drift past Thursday’s game against Pasadena.
Burbank came into the week as one of two teams still perfect in the Pacific League, the other being Crescenta Valley. The Falcons and the Bulldogs will clash Oct. 20 at Glendale’s Moyse Field.
“It is kind of tough trying not to think about [the game with CV],” Burbank senior receiver Drew Pendleton said. “It was in the back of our minds.
“But we knew we had to get the win against Pasadena first.”
Led by a passing attack that produced four touchdown passes from quarterback Matthew Porras and three scoring catches from Pendleton, Burbank built an early lead and its defense did the rest in a 42-0 victory ar Memorial Field.
Burbank, which finished second in league in 2016 behind Crescenta Valley and advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division VII championship game, improved to 5-2, 4-0 in league.
“We wanted to work on a lot of stuff in this game,” Burbank coach Adam Colman said. “When we saw them on film they came out a lot in man coverage, but they didn’t come out in that today which was kind of a surprise. So we kind of had to change our game plan. But I thought we came out and threw the ball well.”
Porras established the passing game early and ended up completing 19 of 23 passes for 268 yards and scores of 32, 43, 27 and 74 yards against no interceptions. His favorite target was Pendleton, who hauled in five catches for 162 yards and scores of 32, 43 and 74 yards. Duncan Smith had the 27-yard touchdown catch.
Pendleton led the Burbank defense with an interception. He also had an interception return for a touchdown called back, one of two that were nullified on the night for Burbank.
“Drew stepped up huge and he’s just a helluva player,” Colman said. “He just has so much raw talent and he really puts in the work to get better.”
Burbank also received interceptions from Kaydon Spens and Erik Harutyunyan. Burbank defensive end Anthony Lira also scored on a 43-yard run on a fumble receovery following a sack from Christian Fajardo.
Burbank surged out to a 14-0 lead after the first quarter and added a touchdown in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 21-0 advantage.
In the first half, Pasadena (1-6, 1-3) came up empty on all six of its possessions and was held to 46 yards of total offense with just 16 yards rushing.
In the game, Burbank stopped Pasadena on nine possessions. The team’s best chance to score came late in the fourth quarter, but Harutyunyan intercepted Pasadena quarterback Randy Santellan in the end zone.
Burbank increased its advantage to 35-0 after three quarters and tacked on a 17-yard touchdown run by Isaac Glover with 2:54 left in the game.
Twitter: @jefftsports
