Burbank recovers just in time

What looked like a blowout early on turned into a spectacular high

school football game between two teams that are quickly becoming

fierce rivals.

In the end, it was a clutch Burbankteam that outdueled a

never-say-die Glendale squad, 30-27, in a nonleague game at Moyse

Field on Friday night.

A 4-yard quarterback keeper by Robert Linda turned out to be the

game-winner with 39 seconds left. It came after Glendale rallied from

a 21-0 deficit to take a 27-24 lead with 4:44 remaining.

But thanks to dominating performance by the Bulldog offensive

line, and key execution by its first-year signal caller, Burbank

avoided the huge upset, marching 77 yards for the game-winning score.

“You have to give lots of credit to Glendale High’s players and

their coaches, because they battled back,” said Burbank Coach Greg

Sobiech, whose team gained 329 yards rushing. “But at the same time,

I’m so proud of my group for coming back. They could have folded

[after Glendale took the lead], but I challenged them and they found

a way to fight and win.

“It’s wonderful to see kids show that type of heart and spirit,

and that applies to both teams.”

On the game-winning drive, Burbank (3-2) relied heavily on the

running of Marcus Hood (218 yards in 28 carries), who had nothing but

open field ahead of him thanks to the superb blocking of linemen

Kristof Kardos, Grant Valentine, Josh Nesbitt, Steve Burrows and Alex

Maroldi.

But when it came to making the biggest plays, it was Linda who

rose to the occasion.

The 6-foot-3, 225-pound talent converted a critical fourth-andsix

play with 2:11 left by scrambling for 10 yards after Glendale’s

secondary shut down the pass.

Four plays later, he found paydirt, setting off pandemonium on

Burbank’s sideline.

But as clutch as Linda was, Glendale had its share of heroes.

After its first three offensive possessions resulted in just 27

yards of total offense, Glendale (1-4) finally showed up.

The running duo of James Clay and Micko Ortiz allowed Glendale to

stay in the game.

Glendale scored touchdowns on four of its last five possessions.

The fourth came after Glendale forced a Bulldog fumble at its own

10-yard line, setting up a 9-yard Clay score.

But after Burbank took the lead, Glendale’s double-wing offense

was essentially left helpless, having to drive 69 yards for a

touchdown without any timeouts.

On the second play of the drive, Glendale lost its third fumble of

the game and a heavily favored Bulldog squad -- which defeated

Glendale, 41-6, last season -- finally took a sigh of relief.