Jim RiggioIt won’t go down as an...
Jim Riggio
It won’t go down as an official victory for the Burroughs High
football team.
But the Indians earned themselves a moral victory Friday night
when they hosted Mission Viejo in the first round of the CIF Southern
Section Division II playoffs. Mission Viejo prevailed, 35-3.
Mission Viejo -- the two-time Division II champion -- is No. 5 in
the USA Today Super 25 national high school football rankings and No.
2 in the West Regional, trailing only top-ranked Concord De La Salle,
winners of a national-record 149 straight games.
They are also recognized as the No. 2-ranked team in the state,
according to www.calhisports.com.
The win was Mission Viejo’s 39th straight dating back to the 2001
season. The streak is the third longest in CIF Southern Section
history.
Burroughs (4-7) actually began the second quarter with a 3-0 lead
when James Cullen hit a 28-yard field goal with 7:27 left in the
first quarter.
The Indians’ Matt Patterson intercepted Diablo starting
quarterback Mark Sanchez twice in the first quarter. Sanchez threw
only two interceptions in 10 regular-season games, which included
playing highly ranked opponents Santa Ana Mater Dei and Long Beach
Poly.
“We saw how hard they hit people [on film] and we came out and did
it,” Burroughs Coach Keith Knoop said. “We’re the first team that I
saw to go down and score on them first all year. We don’t have the
same amount of kids as them, but our kids work just as hard.”
Burroughs held its field-goal lead for 9:49 until the Diablo
(11-0) offensive machine went to work. After Sanchez threw
interceptions on his first two passes, he proceeded to complete the
next 12.
Sanchez, a junior transfer from Santa Margarita, hooked up with
6-foot-1, 225-pound sophomore Chane Moline on a 9-yard touchdown pass
with 10:38 left in the first half.
The Diablos took a 14-3 lead as 6-3, 240-pound Jedidiah Collins,
who gave an oral commitment to Washington State on Thursday night,
scored on a 1-yard run.
Collins scored his second touchdown moments later, as he
intercepted a pass by Burroughs quarterback Chad Brewster and
returned it 23 yards for a score.
Brewster made his second consecutive start for the Indians after
Nick Payne was lost for the season with a broken thumb. He was five
of 13 for 63 yards with two interceptions.
Collins had yet another touchdown, a 37-yard touchdown pass from
Sanchez with 2:17 left in the first half.
Sophomore running back Thomas Kyle had 26 yards in nine carries
for Burroughs.