Burroughs football’s Bell runs wild at expense of Glendale
Burroughs High’s Chance Bell spent the majority of the second half of Thursday evening’s Pacific League football game against Glendale standing on the sideline.
The senior running back had just four carries in the third quarter and sat out the fourth.
Bell got to cool his jets because he did his share of damage in the first half. Bell put on another fine performance, as he scored six touchdowns and ran for 332 yards to lead the Indians to a 64-7 victory against the Nitros at Memorial Field.
“It really all starts with my line and the receivers; they are the ones who open the holes for me and enable me to take it to another level,” Bell said. “Without them, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do. They all do their job and that helps me do mine.
“I just try and find a hole, get to it and get running. Sometimes when I get into the open field, it kind of slows down for me and I’m able to decide quickly where I want to go.”
It was the second time the San Diego State commit has tallied six touchdowns and more than 300 yards in a game, as he also achieved the feat in September against Hoover. Bell’s yardage equals the third-most in a game in Burroughs history and his 36 points ties him for third all-time.
Bell, who already broke the Indians’ career rushing record this season, has tallied 25 touchdowns on the year.
“As coach, it’s just a blessing to have Chance on your team,” said Burroughs Coach Mike Reily, whose team improved to 4-3, 3-1 in league. “As a football fan, and a fan of just good athletes, or just as a spectator, it’s pretty awesome to watch what he does. He is pretty smooth in the open field and it brings a smile to my face to see how he can manipulate blocks and set up blocks. He is definitely a special kid.”
With offensive linemen Jesse Chamberlain, Tommy Howe, Adam Sporkin, Jacob Real and Ryan Bernal leading the way, Bell carried the ball 16 times and had touchdown runs of one, 49, 10, 11, 83 and 27. He had 12 carries for 285 yards and six touchdowns in the opening half.
Glendale (1-5, 0-4) made it a game early. After Bell scored on runs of one and 49 yards to make it 14-0, the Nitros cut the lead in half with a touchdown with 8:30 remaining in the first quarter. Quarterback Sebastian Gonzalez hooked up with Luis Alvarez on a 74-yard scoring strike to make it 14-7.
Gonzalez, filling in for injured starting quarterback Tyler Artavia, finished the night seven of 24 for 143 yards, while Alvarez hauled in four catches for 101 yards.
After the touchdown, however, the Glendale offense went flat. The Nitros turned the ball over on downs five times in the first half.
The Indians struck back after the Glendale touchdown and scored 43 straight points to go into halftime with a 57-7 advantage, bringing about a running clock late in the second quarter.
Burroughs senior quarterback Hayden Zepeda completed 10 of 15 passes for 106 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions – all in the first half. His scoring strikes were a 13-yard touchdown to Gavin Aguilar (four catches for 94 yards) and a 10-yard touchdown to Sammy Duran.
Ben Peters also had a six-yard touchdown run for Burroughs.
For the Nitros, running back Carlos Ramos had nine carries for 52 yards and receiver Oscar Perez had two catches for 43 yards.
