Burbank breaks out

MEMORIAL FIELD — The Hoover and Burbank high footballs teams were even for one quarter during their Pacific League contest at Burroughs High on Thursday night.

After that, Burbank broke the stalemate while scoring at will the rest of the game on offense and defense.

In need of a victory to get back into the playoff picture, Burbank rolled to a 55-0 win.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Bulldogs (4-4, 2-3 in league). Hoover saw its losing skid swell to 18 by dropping to 0-8, 0-5.

Burbank, which entered the game in fifth place in league and one game behind Arcadia, Burroughs and Glendale, got a pair of rushing touchdowns from sophomore running back Ulises Ochoa to get back into the postseason hunt with two games remaining in the regular season. Linebackers William Ortega and Sam Bethany picked off passes by Hoover quarterback AJ Pule and returned them for touchdowns.

“The kids made the adjustments after the first quarter,” Burbank Coach Ted Amorosi said. “They rallied up, and it’s a nice after going through three tough weeks.

“We talked about getting over the hump and the seniors led us through some good practices.”

Burbank took a 7-0 lead on an eight-yard run by running back Nate Galles with 11:27 left in the second quarter. Wide receiver Anthony Cervantes then caught a nine-yard pass from quarterback Kevin Hunter to extend the lead to 14-0 with 7:04 left in the first half. Ortega then returned an interception 34 yards to make it 20-0 with 2:34 remaining.

Ochoa scored on Burbank’s first possession of the second quarter on a six-yard run to make it 27-0. Hunter then made it 34-0 on a nine-yard run with 8:25 left in the third quarter before Cole Hazlewood hauled in a 30-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Adam Colman to extend the lead to 41-0.

Ochoa made it 48-0 on a 37-yard run with 2:08 left in the third quarter. Bethany closed out the scoring on a 90-yard interception return with 8:45 remaining in the game.

The Tornadoes, who were blanked for the first time this season and recovered a pair of fumbles in Burbank territory, never could mount a rally.

“We knew coming in that we had a chance to move the ball,” said Hoover first-year Coach Chris Long, who saw Pule complete 11 of 47 passes for 120 yards and two interceptions. “We had guys wide open in the first quarter, but we overthrew the wide receivers.

“We always have chances, but we just have to learn how to score.”

Adam Ochart had five catches for 40 yards for Hoover.

Burbank will next compete in another league contest at 7 p.m. next Friday against host Arcadia.