Burroughs and Burbank high schools’ football programs have finished scheduling for the fall season, which is set to begin in January.
After the CIF Southern Section unveiled its revised high school athletics calendar for the 2020-21 academic year, athletic directors and football coaches scrambled to contact their counterparts in other programs to finalize a schedule.
Fortunately for local coaches, the process was relatively seamless as both Burbank High School and John Burroughs High School locked in their opponents for the upcoming season, which is scheduled to begin Friday, Jan. 8. The COVID-19 pandemic led to the radical departure from traditional sports schedules.
“We had been in talks and knew [a postponement of the season] was going to happen,” said Burbank head coach Adam Colman. “There was no rush to fill it, but we had it all worked out.”
“We’re all squared away and ready,” said Jesse Craven, who is entering his first season as Burroughs head coach. “Our schedule pretty much remains the same. … I’m just happy we get a chance to play, and hopefully it’s for more than 10 games.
Burbank’s schedule includes — in order from Week 1 to Week 10 — Santa Clarita Golden Valley, Pasadena La Salle, Calabasas, Pasadena High, Crescenta Valley, Pasadena John Muir, Glendale, Ventura St. Bonaventure, Arcadia and Burroughs.
“We want to play the best and really challenge ourselves,” said the Bulldogs’ Colman. “Our kids will rise to any challenge presented to them. … The motivation is there, and I really like playing old Foothill League opponents. Adding Ventura County teams to the mix is awesome for us. We’re trying to get different areas to really prepare ourselves for the playoffs.”
Burroughs’ schedule includes Santa Monica, La Palma Kennedy, Panorama St. Genevieve, Crescenta Valley, Pasadena Muir, Oxnard Hueneme, Arcadia, Glendale, Burbank and Pasadena.
“I’m very happy with it,” Craven said. “For me, I’m just glad we have a plan going forward because we love to play. Everything is good. We’ll see how it ends up being. Hopefully things end up better and they can reopen schools.”
Social media and the CIF-SS website helped many programs, including Burbank’s, fill up any vacant spots in the schedule.
“Honestly, social media was the best driver to finding other teams,” Colman said. “There weren’t a ton of options, but when I saw Calabasas was open, we wanted to take that.”
Practice schedules have not been set as the Burbank Unified School District continues to work on its distance learning model for the upcoming school year.
