Stellar Burbank football defense throttles Arcadia
BURBANK — On a night when the Burbank High football team’s offense was substandard, the defense put together a masterful effort.
The Bulldogs defense matched the five giveaways from its offense with five takeaways and held visiting Arcadia’s offense in check in a 26-16 victory between two of the Pacific League’s final three undefeated teams at Memorial Field.
“Defense! Defense! That’s all I can say,” Burbank Coach Richard Broussard exclaimed after the game. “That’s my quote. They did so well.
“Our D-line controlled the line of scrimmage. Our blitzers got there. We did a good job of bottling them up and we did a good job of doing what we needed to do.”
The victory kept Burbank (5-2, 4-0 in league) undefeated atop the league standings with Crescenta Valley (6-1, 4-0), while Arcadia (6-1, 3-1) dropped into a tie with Burroughs (4-3, 3-1) for third place.
The Bulldogs completed as many passes (three) and they had interceptions, while they finished with 137 yards of total offense. The teams also combined for more than 100 yards in penalties.
Yet, Burbank’s defense played the role of hero in holding Arcadia’s rushing attack to 53 yards on 36 carries with one fake-punt run generating 47 of those yards.
Burbank also battered Arcadia junior quarterback Maximillian Davila.
A week earlier, Davila sliced up Burroughs with 21-of-27 passing for 303 yards and three touchdowns in an Apaches’ 37-27 win over the Indians at Memorial Field.
Broussard said he had wanted to take away the Apaches’ dangerous screen, which the team did wonderfully.
Davila completed 16 of 31 passes for 205 yards and one touchdown, while he was picked off three times. Davila was also tackled for a loss nine times, with Danny Porras and Anthony Lira (one interception) registering two sacks each.
“We really worked hard and worked on our hitting and tackling,” Porras said. “We had a plan for Arcadia.”
The Bulldogs led, 12-10, at halftime with the special teams adding to the victory when the unit broke through Arcadia’s porous blocking and tackled punter Jamal Tims at the Apaches’ 12-yard line.
Three plays later, Burbank’s Darnell Williams punched in a six-yard score with 9:50 to go in the third to give the Bulldogs a 19-10 lead after a successful point after.
On Arcadia’s next drive, senior defensive back Forest Fajardo picked off his second pass of the game and returned it 31 yards for a touchdown that extended Burbank’s lead to 26-10 with 7:37 left in the third.
The Apaches’ next two drives resulted in turnovers on downs on the Burbank 18 and Arcadia 45.
The only other score of the second half came when Arcadia’s Craig Carrillo returned an interception 75 yards for a touchdown. The two-point conversion was intercepted by Burbank’s Andy Reyes as Burbank held a 26-16 lead with 3:48 remaining in the game.
Arcadia had its final possession of the game end in an interception by Lira.
It was a somewhat bizarre first half defined by turnovers and quick touchdowns, as Burbank led, 12-10.
Arcadia and Burbank combined for seventurnovers in what was a low-scoring first half up until the last minute.
It appeared Arcadia was destined to score when Davila hit his receiver on a quick slant at the Arcadia 18. Yet, the ball was stripped and recovered by Burbank’s Drew Pendleton, who recovered two fumbles in the first half.
The junior raced down the visiting sideline for an 88-yard touchdown return with 55.1 seconds left. While the point-after try was missed, Burbank took a 12-3 lead.
“I just played football man, nothing else,” Pendleton said. “I saw the ball on the ground and I picked it up and ran.”
Arcadia showed some flash on the ensuing drive when the Apaches marched from their 37 to the Burbank 14 with 10 seconds remaining.
Davila hit receiver John Freeman-Lee on a 14-yard touchdown fade with 4.8 seconds remaining that, after the point after, brought Arcadia within 12-10 at the break.
Arcadia’s first points came on a 28-yard field from Randy Ludwig set up on a Burbank fumble on its 12.
It took four drives for the Bulldogs to respond, but they did when back-up quarterback Reyes (who took over for one drive) scored on a six-yard run with 10:36 left in the second quarter.
The point-after try was botched, which gave Burbank a 6-3 lead.
