First published in the Oct. 22 print issue of the Burbank Leader.
In the regular season finale for both teams, Burbank defeated host Burroughs High, 19-8, in a Pacific League rivalry game on Wednesday.
The Bulldogs, who won their 16th consecutive game, took an early 5-1 lead after the first quarter and never looked back, adding seven goals in the second quarter, five in the third and two in the fourth while limiting the Bears’ offensive opportunities.
“Everybody played really well from our starters to the guys that came off the bench. Everybody stepped up huge today and this is really what we needed going into the league tournament next week,” Burbank head coach David Arakelyan said.
Burbank senior Zack Gezalyan registered a game-high seven goals, five assists and three steals, while sophomore teammate Danny Agazaryan scored six goals.
“Zack played really well; he’s our go-to guy. Danny played great and he’s a great shooter,” Arakelyan said. “All around, goalies, players, the coaching staff — we just did a great job today.”
All three Burbank goalies saw action in the cage, as junior Alec Chalkdzhyan posted seven saves, sophomore Christian Lazaryan had five saves and senior Narek Abedian recorded three saves.
Junior Andranik Bilbulyan collected two goals and four assists, while junior Michael Misakyan scored a pair of goals. Sophomore Eric Avetisyan tallied two steals, two assists and one goal, while junior Alex Kobalyan finished with two assists, one goal and one steal. Junior Hayk Atanasyan produced two steals and one assist, junior Arthur Saryan had one steal and one assist, and senior Andy Gezalyan had one steal.
It was a tough game for JBHS (9-13 overall, 3-4 in league) against undefeated Burbank (24-2 overall, 7-0 in league). The Bears picked up the pace in the second quarter after a slow start with four goals, the most in any quarter of the game for Burroughs.
“It’s a building year; we knew that coming into the game and just to use it as a learning opportunity. The Burbank-Burroughs game is always a fun one, you always have a crowd out here,” JBHS head coach Jacob Cook said. “We had to take one of our lefties out of the game early so that kind of hurt us. But overall our guys play hard every game no matter what the score is and they did that again today.”
Burroughs High’s Harrison Zekowski led the team with four goals while Ian Duffield tallied a pair of goals. Teammates Logan Turla and Harrison Siegel each scored one goal, while Atticus Mata had four saves in the cage.
Burbank and Burroughs will each compete in the league prelims on Tuesday, Oct. 25, with the finals on Thursday, Oct. 27. The CIF-SS brackets will be released on Saturday, Oct. 29, at 9 a.m.
BURBANK
The Bulldogs previously won a league game over visiting Hoover, 16-6, as Zack Gezalyan racked up three goals and seven steals. Bilbulyan collected five goals, three steals and one assist, sophomore Gevorg Baboudjian produced three goals, four steals and one assist, and senior Arman Hovhanissyan finished with two goals, three steals and two assists. Saryan tallied two goals, while Agazaryan scored once. Junior Raffi Gevorgyan tallied three assists, Atanasyan had one steal and one assist, and Andy Gezalyan recorded one steal. Abedian registered seven saves, two assists and one steal, Chalkdzhyan had two saves and one assist, and Lazaryan had one save.
BURROUGHS
The Bears previously lost a league game against visiting Arcadia, 16-11. Zekowski and Turla each scored four goals, while Siegel, Ryan Rolando and Duffield each added one goal.
