Indians skid to 0-3
CAMARILLO — Perhaps the Pacific League portion of the schedule will bring positive results for the members of the Burroughs High football team. For now, the Indians are probably glad that they are finished playing nonleague contests.
Participating in their final nonleague game Friday night against host Camarillo, the exhausted Indians struggled on both sides of the ball en route to a 50-13 defeat.
“We played like a young team, and we need to find that spark and leader,” said Burroughs Coach Keith Knoop, whose team dropped to 0-3. “We’ve played teams like this before and beaten them, but now we have to grow up fast.
“We never found a rhythm against a team that’s physically better. We can’t get those gears going.”
Camarillo (2-1) enjoyed big performances from quarterback Travis Valdez and wide receiver Corbin Covey. Valdez completed 24 of 36 passes for 306 yards and three touchdowns. Covey caught a pair of touchdown passes from Valdez and rushed for one score and netted 139 yards of total offense.
The Scorpions, who have won three straight Pacific View League championships, also got two rushing touchdowns from Raymond Thomas.
“They play like a junior college team,” said Knoop, whose team earlier lost to Paraclete and North Hollywood. “They capitalized on all of our mistakes.”
Camarillo took advantage of Burroughs’ first mistake, when defensive back Jake Greenwood scooped up a fumble after Burroughs quarterback Angel Manzanero was sacked and ran it back 40 yards to give the Scorpions a 7-0 lead with 8:42 left in the first quarter.
Thomas then gave Camarillo a 14-0 lead on a one-yard run with 5:22 left in the opening quarter.
Burroughs, which has won or shared the last three league championships, caught a break when linebacker Zach Hartman stripped the ball from Covey after he caught a 27-yard pass from Valdez. Hartman batted the ball away from Covey at the four-yard line, before Burroughs defensive back Sean Johnson recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchback.
The play ignited the Indians, who scored on their ensuing drive. Running back Joshua Storer scored on a 55-yard run to cut the deficit to 14-7 with 1:39 left in the opening quarter.
Storer, who rushed for 77 yards in eight carries, said the Indians stayed close early.
“We came back there, and I got some good blocks from my line,” Storer said. “It’s frustrating right now, but we have the talent and we all have to play harder.”
Burroughs’ momentum stalled on Camarillo’s next drive. Valdez floated a 13-yard touchdown pass to an uncovered Covey and the Scorpions scored on the two-point conversion to make it 22-7 with 10:11 left in the second quarter.
After Covey scored on a five-yard run to extend Camarillo’s advantage to 29-7 with 2:09 remaining in the first half, the Scorpions capitalized on another Burroughs turnover.
Camarillo defensive back Brandon Knupp intercepted a pass at the Burroughs 20-yard line. After a 16-yard penalty to Camarillo, Valdez tossed a 36-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Philip Pizzo to extend the lead to 36-7 with 13 seconds remaining in the first half.
Valdez threw an 18-yard pass to Covey to make it 43-7 with 2:31 left in the third quarter.
Camarillo and Burroughs swapped fourth-quarter touchdowns. The Scorpions got a three-yard touchdown run from Thomas to make it 50-7 with 8:34 left. Burroughs closed out the scoring on a two-yard run by running back Garrett Manoukian with 10 seconds remaining.
Knoop said the Indians will look to regroup when they meet Arcadia at 7 p.m. Friday at home. The teams shared the league championship last season.
“It’s a fresh start for us,” said Knoop, whose team has now lost 10 straight nonleague games and has started 0-3 for three straight years. “It’s league, so that means we have to get better.”