THE HIGH SCHOOLS : If Football Is Nice, Why All the Pads?

For the second time in four games, Bob Dunivant, the Burroughs High football coach, has been accused of running up the score. And for the second straight time, Dunivant has given a simple reply--tough.

After Friday night’s 36-7 win over Lompoc in the Northwestern Conference quarterfinals, Dunivant dismissed charges by a Lompoc assistant coach that he showed no mercy, saying, in effect, that football is not a game for squeamish types.

Dunivant’s motto this year follows the thinking, “Who said football is nice?”

Certainly not the Lompoc coaches, who watched Burroughs score in the final minute with starting quarterback Jeff Barrett still in the game throwing passes. Barrett, who rarely exits regardless of the margin of victory, attempted seven of his 23 passes in the fourth quarter. But Burroughs scored only nine points in the second half.

Three weeks ago, Barrett went all the way in Burroughs’ 62-3 rout of Alhambra, which drew complaints from the Alhambra coaching staff. Dunivant said he stays with Barrett in such situations to give the junior quarterback more game experience.

Burroughs players resent the complaints and have rallied to Dunivant’s defense. They claim the coach pulls his starters except for Barrett in the second half and calls a conservative game once a victory has been assured.

“I don’t think it’s fair,” receiver Brian Kaloustian said Saturday about the accusations. “He puts in the subs when we get ahead. My little brother even went into the game last night. Phillip is a wide receiver and he wants to play. Coach Dunivant puts in the other people and they want to score, too.”

“I think we’re playing a normal game,” defensive back Bruce Luizzi said. “We’re giving 110%. We don’t want to be known as quitters. We could have scored a lot more points, but we let up on offense.”

Luizzi said there was a sure-fire sign Dunivant had called off the dogs in the second half Friday night.

“We could tell Coach Dunivant was easing up because he was laughing. In the beginning of the game, we were all serious and fired up. In the second half, we could tell we were out for fun.”

Said Barrett: “Every time he wants to put in another quarterback, I beg him to let me stay in.

Barrett has little sympathy for opponents’ complaints, saying, “They’re just mad because they lost the game. I think it’s stupid. They’re just acting like little kids.”

Semifinal round: All six Southern Section playoff games involving area teams produced Valley winners on Friday, resulting in six more playoff games with area teams in next week’s semifinal round. Crespi is the only team with a home game, playing host to Eisenhower in the Big Five Conference playoffs at Birmingham High.

The other matchups are Canyon vs. Muir at Pasadena City College in the Coastal Conference; Burroughs at Temple City and Hart at Santa Maria in the Northwestern Conference; and Calabasas at Atascadero and Harvard against St. Joseph’s at Righetti in the Desert-Mountain Conference. All games are Friday at 7:30 p.m.

City Section playoffs resume Friday with the semifinals. In the 4-A Division, Kennedy plays top-seeded Banning at Long Beach Veteran’s Stadium, and Carson plays at Granada Hills. In the 2-A, Reseda plays Los Angeles at Westchester High. All games are at 7:30 p.m.

Rematch mania: The playoff final in three conferences may bring rematches of regular-season games involving league rivals. With a win over Eisenhower, Crespi would play St. John Bosco if the Braves defeat Fontana in the Big Five semifinals. St. John Bosco gave Crespi its only loss of the season, winning, 32-27, in the ninth week of the season to win the Del Rey League title.

“I’d like to see that,” Crespi Coach Bill Redell said Saturday. “Everyone talks about the Angelus League, so it would be nice for the Del Rey League to be there. We’d also like another shot at them because we felt we could have won the first time. But also I’d like to see it happen because that means we’re in the final.”

If Canyon gets past Muir, and Antelope Valley defeats South Torrance in the Coastal Conference semifinals, Canyon would play Antelope Valley for the fourth time in two years. Antelope Valley ended Canyon’s 46-game winning streak, 21-20, three weeks ago. Last year, Canyon defeated the Antelopes, 30-6, in the regular season and then won the Northwestern Conference title with a 9-7 victory over its Golden League opponent.

In the Northwestern Conference, Hart and Burroughs of the Foothill League could meet in the final with wins next week. Both teams have scored lopsided victories in the first two rounds of the playoffs, indicating that moving the Foothill League to the Northwestern Conference might have been a mistake. Last year, the Foothill League played in the Coastal Conference.

Hart has outscored two playoff opponents, 90-12, with a 38-0 win over Arroyo Grande and 52-12 over Verbum Dei. Burroughs has outscored playoff opponents, 58-13.

Hart defeated Burroughs, 20-8, in the regular season.