Burbank Kicks Burroughs Out, 5-0

Heavy rain tapered off to a heavy drizzle for almost 80 minutes Thursday night, which was all the time Burbank High needed to rout Burroughs of Burbank, 5-0, in the final Foothill League soccer game of the season.

It was the 16th shutout of the year for the Bulldogs, who are ranked second in the Southern Section 3-A coaches’ poll.

But that honor doesn’t impress Burbank coach Dave Kemp, who has led the Bulldogs to the playoffs for the second straight year.

“I don’t pay much attention to the rankings,” Kemp said. “Most of those coaches haven’t seen us play and it goes mostly on records. There’s a lot of good teams out there.”

Most of which Kemp and the Bulldogs (11-1 in league, 20-1 overall) have yet to see.

Said Kemp: “The playoffs are funny. We played Diamond Bar last year and we had never even heard of Diamond Bar. They were huge.”

Burbank got past Diamond Bar, but lost to Crespi in the quarterfinals.

This year, however, there’s more maturity in the Burbank camp. The Bulldogs open the playoffs Feb. 21, and Kemp is expecting big things from his team.

Of the three big scorers at Kemp’s disposal--Brad Watkins, Cesar Zepeda and Pony Mier--two scored against Burroughs.

Mier scored three goals and had two assists. His first goal came within the first few minutes of the game. The rest of the first half was silent, and Burbank held a 1-0 halftime lead.

In the second half, Matt Batham scored first. Zepeda followed with one, and Mier with two.

Burroughs tried to penetrate a strong Burbank defense, but getting to the goal was like trying to bust a safe with firecrackers.

Burbank defenders Abel Saldana, Luis Carranza, John Alevros and Wayne Haas made it an easy night for goalkeeper Sal Velasco. Velasco took only two hard shots on goal in the game, making nice saves on each.

Burroughs, which will sit out the playoffs, ended the season at 2-9-1 in league.