Indians right ship in time
PASADENA — Things were definitely not clicking for the Burroughs High football team Friday in the early going against Pasadena.
The Indians muffed a punt attempt that led to a Bulldogs safety on the first series in the opening minutes. On the ensuing possession, Pasadena was given excellent field position and that ultimately paved the way for a touchdown.
As quick as that, Burroughs was behind by eight points.
But as quickly as the Indians began their funk, they were able to battle their way out of it. Burroughs battled back to score 35 unanswered points to notch a 35-8 come-from-behind victory in a Pacific League game at Pasadena.
The win keeps Burroughs (2-3, 2-0 in league) undefeated in league. Last season, the Indians won a share of the Pacific League championship.
Despite his team’s problems in the opening quarter, Burroughs Coach Keith Knoop said he wasn’t worried.
“I’m really coming to adore the mistakes this team has in the first quarter of games,” Knoop said. “We did have some problems early on, but the important thing is that we were able to overcome that and we started playing a lot better.”
The Bulldogs (1-4, 0-2) seemed intent on blitzing Burroughs quarterback Lucas Yanez all night. As a result, the Indians fed Pasadena a steady diet of running plays.
“I would have liked to pass the ball more,” Knoop said. “But [Pasadena] was bringing eight guys almost all the time.”
With an offensive line that featured Steven Escoboza, Lester Quintana, Thomas Liro, Rokie Hussakhoon and Varaster Buranintu leading the way, the Indians were able to pick up large chunks of real estate on the ground.
Senior Tadeo Zuniga led the way, carrying the ball 15 times for 201 yards and two touchdowns. He had scoring runs of 55 and 10 yards.
Junior Zander Anding made the most of his 10 carries, gaining 185 yards and scoring on runs of 80 and 26 yards.
“Our guys on the offensive line are finally starting to click together,” Knoop said. “We have really had to move quite a few guys around to find the right combination that would work. But they have been playing really well.”
After falling behind, 8-0, Burroughs cut down on its mistakes, the defense stiffened — stopping Pasadena three times on fourth-down plays — and the offense began rolling.
Burroughs finally found the end zone with 37.6 seconds left in the first quarter on Anding’s 80-yard scamper.
He scored again and Zuniga found pay dirt to put the Indians ahead, 21-9, at the half.
The two running backs combined for 242 yards in 12 carries in the first half.
After Zuniga’s second touchdown increased the Burroughs lead to 28-8, Yanez got into the scoring act by connecting with Kody Carter on a 16-yard strike with 11:53 remaining in the game.