Burbank football has offense clicking in win over Arcadia

BURBANK — The Burbank High football team showcased just how hard it can be to cover in their 46-10 win over Arcadia at Memorial Stadium on Friday night.

Seven times the Bulldogs found the end zone, spreading those touchdowns to six different players.

“That’s what we’re hoping for,” said Burbank coach Hector Valencia. “We have a little bit of a system with coaches keeping track of touches. We can give our quarterback feedback like, ‘Hey we’re giving the ball too much to one person.’ We know they’re going to try and focus on that one person so we just try to spread it around.”

Sophomore quarterback Deshawn Laporte led the way, throwing for 225 yards and three touchdowns while adding 24 rushing yards and another score. The speedster used his legs to keep plays alive throughout the night and while doing so was an impressive three-for-three passing for 77 yards on fourth down.

“He’s willing to take shots,” said Valencia. “Sometimes it goes our way and sometimes it doesn’t but we’re very happy with his performance. He’s not trying to make all the plays by himself. He’s looking downfield for someone else to be able to make a play.”

He threw touchdowns to Daniel Zacariaz, Exodus Freeman and Tyler Hudson (seven catches, 148 yards).

Senior Joseph Caballero was the only player to get in the end zone more than once. He had two touchdowns and ran for 82 yards on five rushes.

Elijah Pendleton was the perfect complement to Caballero as he ran for 105 yards on eight carries. He also caught a pair of passes and racked up more than 100 punt return yards in the win.

“We wanted to establish the run against Arcadia and it was something we did early,” said Valencia. “Elijah is more of a playmaker and Joseph is going to the hole.”

Max Kelley added a rushing touchdown for Burbank while Ezekiel Alvarez had an interception and pass break-up in the win.