Burroughs polo dispatches Burbank, heads into league tourney as No. 1 seed
BURBANK — It was a festive atmosphere Wednesday afternoon when the Burroughs High boys’ water polo team took on Burbank in a crosstown rivalry matchup.
Although the Indians were fighting to finish the league regular season in a tie for first place, they were surprisingly relaxed. The Bulldogs, who had already been eliminated from earning one of the four automatic playoff berths from the league, seemed to be having their share of fun, as well.
Behind 14 goals from David Arakelyan, Burroughs prevailed 27-21 and defeated a scrappy Burbank squad that received 16 goals from Brandon Wilson at Burbank High.
“We know a lot of the guys on their team and we play on a club team with some of them,” said Arakelyan, who also had five assists. “It was really fun out there today.
“We wanted to win today to stay in first place in league and also it was against Burbank and it is our senior year, we have 13 seniors on this team, so we really wanted to win our last game against them.”
With the win, Burroughs (12-12, 5-1 in league) ended the league regular season tied for first place with Crescenta Valley (5-1 in league), which defeated Arcadia on Wednesday, 8-4, and Hoover (5-1), which beat Glendale on Wednesday, 23-3.
For the league tournament that begins Tuesday and concludes Thursday at Arcadia High, Burroughs will be seeded No. 1, the Falcons will be No. 2 and the Tornadoes No. 3. The seeding is based on a goals-allowed tiebreaker between the tying teams in head-to-head competition.
“I think the guys had fun today and they were actually joking with the Burbank players during the game,” said Indians coach Jacob Cook, whose team lost in the league tournament championship in 2016 to Hoover. “But now it’s time to get serious and concentrate on what we have to do in the tournament. It’s just a lot better to be the No. 1 seed then to be No. 2 or No. 3.”
Last season, Burroughs won the CIF Division V championship.
Burbank (7-11, 1-5) is sixth in league.
Burbank showed grit against Burroughs and made it a four-goal game early in the fourth quarter.
“I am so incredibly proud of the way our guys played in this game,” Young said. “That is the toughest I’ve seen them play all season. Only losing by six points to a team like that is a big accomplishment for us.
“Brandon did very well against a very good team. To score 16 goals is just amazing.”
With the score tied at 1 early in the first quarter, Arakelyan took over, scoring five of Burroughs’ goals as it jumped in front, 8-2, after the first stanza.
The Bulldogs got to within five of the lead, 10-5, with 3:57 remaining after one of Wilson’s five goals in the second quarter. Burbank ended the second trailing by five, 13-8.
“It really showed in this game that we could work well as a team,” Wilson said. “It showed we could score and play well against good teams.”
Burroughs increased its lead to 20-14 after three quarters.
In the fourth, the Bulldogs got to within four of the lead, 20-16, on a goal by Wilson at the 6:13 mark. But the Indians tallied the next four goals to stave off the threat and increase their advantage to 24-16.
Burbank received two goals from Varuzhan Bibulyan and Burroughs got three goals from Marko Vucetic.
Twitter: @jefftsports
