High School Football : Quartz Hill Buries Burroughs

Fumbled snaps, 98 yards in penalties and plays that went left when they were designed to go right were all part of a dismal outing for Burroughs High on Saturday night.

But Indian Coach Bruce McElwee said that his choice of opponent was the biggest blunder after Quartz Hill handed Burroughs a 32-7 loss in a nonleague game at Burbank High.

“The biggest mistake was scheduling Quartz Hill for our second game of the season,” McElwee said. “We can’t compete with their 3,000 kids versus our 1,000.”

Burroughs was also unable to cope with Quartz Hill’s massive linemen and powerful backfield. The Rebels ran to the left behind 6-foot-7, 275-pound Anthony Hess and to the right behind Randy Clemons (6-3, 248). The result was 219 yards in total offense.

Even the defense and special teams joined in, scoring on a fumble recovery and a punt return. Quartz Hill also prevented Burroughs’ speedy running backs--Andre Banks (68 yards in 15 carries) and Danny Suarez (76 in eight)--from turning the corner.

“Quartz Hill is a good football team,” McElwee conceded. “Their whole game plan was to stop us from getting outside, and we walked right into it.”

The Rebels (2-0) jumped to a 13-0 halftime lead. Loren Long hit Jesse Oggs with a nine-yard pass and Oggs tossed the ball back to David Nelson, who scampered 50 yards for a touchdown. Long hit Richard Pesti with a 15-yard touchdown pass with 6:54 left in the half.

After a clipping penalty on Burroughs’ first drive of the second half put the Indians on their own four, Jason Carr pounced on Dennis Rodriguez’s fumble in the end zone to give Quartz Hill a 19-0 lead.

“I thought that was the turning point,” Quartz Hill Coach John Albee said. “We had shut them out in the first half and came right out with a score that really put them in a hole.”

The hole deepened when Erik Thomas scored on a 45-yard run late in the third quarter to give Quartz Hill a 25-0 lead and the Indians were buried when Nelson returned a punt 47 yards for a score early in the fourth quarter.

Burroughs avoided a shutout when Banks scored from one yard with 5:47 to play. Another bright spot was Rodriguez, who was 12 of 19 for 147 yards.

Despite those performances, McElwee was glum.

“We played terrible,” he said.