Banged up Burlingame shows off depth in shutout of Carlmont

The shutout gets Burlingame back in the win column after a lopsided home loss to the King’s Academy last week. The Panthers are now 3-0 in road games this season.

“We feel really good about where we’re at,” Burlingame head coach Jon Philipopoulos said. “We’ve just got to stay healthy. I feel really good about tonight. We got a great win. ... We got healthy today; nobody came out banged up. So, hopefully we can continue to gain some momentum. We’ve got some important games ahead.”

Burlingame’s injury problems started in the weeks prior to Peninsula Athletic League De Anza Division play opened when the team’s No. 1 back, senior Hayden Haba, was injured against Los Gatos. The Panthers have also lost running backs Vincent Nguyen and Qasim Abutair, and last week had another back go down in senior Ciaran Baker.

But the Panthers’ starting offensive guards — junior Lucas Cunningham and sophomore Tobias Tuuhetoka — have been so solid, it allowed a second-string guard in Lavulo to move to the backfield. The junior made a smashing debut Friday by totaling 10 carries for a game-high 59 yards.

“He’s athletic, he’s fast, he’s physical,” Philipopoulos said. “So we’ve just got to get him up to speed ... from the running back’s perspective, not the offensive line’s perspective.”

The Panthers (1-1 PAL De Anza, 4-3 overall) got plenty of time to get their offense in sync Friday as Carlmont offense was out of sorts all night.

The Scots (1-2, 2-5) committed three turnovers on each of their first three possessions, while totaling four turnovers on the night. When quarterback Brody Zirelli was finding his marks — the junior was 7-for-16 passing for 81 yards and an interception — his receivers weren’t helping him out. Carlmont totaled five drops in the game, including one that turned into an interception of the team’s first offensive play of the game.

“It’s a trying to do a little bit too much,” Carlmont head coach Eric Rado said. “Guys are open, and they did exactly what we thought they were going to do, and their execution was better. When you start off your first three drives with three turnovers....”

It was an ugly first half from the opening snap, when Burlingame fumbled its first-down handoff to Lavulo, but was able to recover. The two teams combined for four fumbles and two interceptions in the first half. The difference was, all the turnovers went Burlingame’s way as the Panthers turned two into scores.

Carlmont’s defense opened with a fiery stand to force a Burlingame three-and-out, capped by a third-down tackle at the line of scrimmage from Scots linebacker Nikolay De Amicis to force a punt.

“Our defense is improving a lot,” Rado said. “But you’ve got to sustain it. And [Burlingame] not having any turnovers, and the dropped passes, doesn’t allow you to get that extra stuff to allow you to sustain it.”

With Carlmont taking over at its own 26-yard line, the Panthers cashed in on the next play when Zirelli’s fastball hit his receiver in the chest, but it popped loose and fell right to the waiting hands of Burlingame sophomore safety Scott Cornelius for his first varsity interception.

“I’m coming up, he bobbles it — right spot, right time,” Cornelius said. “I just grabbed it.”

It was a tall order for the Carlmont defense to head right back onto the field.

“It kind of rattled them, it takes them off their game,” Cornelius said. “I feel like that might have set the tone for the rest of the game.”

Burlingame tried to give it back four plays later, but recovered its own fumble to set up third-and-24 from the 35. But two Armstrong completions — a 12-yarder to junior Dylan Black, followed by an 18-yarder to sophomore Nick Doss — moved the sticks, setting up junior Nathaniel Ordonez to power it in for a 5-yard score to give the Panthers a 7-0 lead.

The Scots’ next possession ended in a turnover too, as senior linebacker Ricardo Felix came up with the pick of Carlmont quarterback Adam Hyman at Burlingame’s 32.

The Carlmont defense held this time, forcing a punt. But three plays later, the Scots coughed up the football with Burlingame senior Ravi Krishnan recovering near midfield. The Panthers went to the ground, including chunks of 15 yards by Armstrong, and 21 yards on an off-tackle ramble by 26B to the Scots’ 6. Two plays later, Ordonez hit the A gap behind a block from running back Ben Flanzer for his second touchdown of the night, giving the Panthers a 14-0 lead.

Zirelli was sacked two times in the first half, including the final play of the half to stifle the Scots’ hurry-up offense. Carlmont took over on downs at its own 27 with 47 seconds left in the half, and quickly moved the ball up the field with Zirelli hitting senior Lucas Robertson for passes of 15 and 8 yards, before an 11-yard connection to junior Austin Sotto across midfield. With 12 seconds to go, Zirelli completed a 14-yard strike to senior Kaisei Trotter, but the gain was called back on an illegal motion penalty. That’s when Zirelli rolled right to give his receivers time to streak to the end zone, but he was sacked near the sideline by Krishnan send it to the locker room 14-0 Burlingame.

To start the second half, Burlingame’s defense came up with a stop the old fashioned way by forcing a punt. The Panthers went on to score on each of their first three possessions in the half, before driving and ultimately taking a knee at Carlmont’s 3-yard line to end the fourth possession at the end of the game.

Armstrong really let it fly in the second half. The senior quarterback finished 10-of-12 passing for 162 yards and two touchdowns. He connected with brother Will Armstrong for a beautiful 12-yard route to the corner of the end zone that saw the junior receiver out-leap the defender to give the Panthers a 21-0 lead midway through the third quarter.

After Ordonez scored his third TD of the game on a 1-yard run late in the third quarter, Nick Armstrong capped the scoring with a 28-yard timing route to junior tight end Danny O’Sullivan midway through the fourth.

“I would say it was definitely our best game,” Cornelius said. “Special teams, offense, defense, we just all put it together — all on the same page making plays.”

Burlingame’s secret weapon continues to be line coach Rick Lavezzo, who had his offensive front — including center Nathan Lierman, and tackles Quincy Yu and Nico Shew — in fine form. Friday was something of a homecoming for Lavezzo, who previously coached at Carlmont alongside Rado on Jake Messina’s staff when the the Scots advanced to the 2018 Central Coast Section Division IV championship game, where they fell to Burlingame.

“Unfortunately, he couldn’t continue coaching at Carlmont,” Rado said. “I kind of wish he were still here, but he does a hell of a job, and he’s been everywhere.”