Bgame gets up to speed on the fly

“Kind of what we expected. A little sloppy early,” Philipopoulos said. “We had some big plays early.”

It took less than than two minutes for Burlingame (9-2 overall) to set the tone. After Gino Lopiccolo nearly picked off a pass on the first play of the game, the Panthers forced a three-and-out on the first possession of the game for Mountain View (6-5). The Spartans punter took the snap only to see Elliot Skillings burst up the middle and smother the ball off the punter’s foot. The punter actually recovered the ball, but the Panthers defense finished him off, setting up the offense’s first drive at the Spartans’ 9-yard line.

Two plays later, Curtis Lauti picked his way over the right side and into the end zone from 4 yards out for the score and the rout was on.

Mountain View actually punted twice on its next possession. The first time, Burlingame was called for roughing the punter, giving the Spartans an automatic first down. But the Panthers allowed only three yards and forced another punt.

The Panthers then embarked on a 10-play, 57-yard drive that was punctuated by a Lauti 15-yard scoring run on a counter play.

On the ensuing kickoff, it was clear this was Burlingame’s day. Kicker Taylor Kaufman hit his kick to the Mountain View 20-yard line, only to see the ball bounce and kick back toward to the onrushing Burlingame kick coverage. Leo Epstein recovered for Burlingame and the Panthers were back in business and needed just one Lucas Meredith bull run to find pay dirt as he rumbled 31 yards for a 21-0 lead with 4:06 left in the first quarter.

“Any time you start fast, it’s a mental advantage,” Philipopoulos said.

After that, the Burlingame defense pinned its ears back and emphatically shut down the Spartans. Mountain View had a total of 29 yards of offense at halftime and finished the game with only 117 yards — including minus-12 rushing on the afternoon.

“Defensively, we were dialed into the game plan,” Philipopoulos said. “We were locked in. How could we not be (after two weeks of breaking down Mountain View film)?”

Burlingame had eight tackles for a loss in the first two quarters, with defensive lineman/linebacker Noah Lavulo leading the way. How many coaching staffs have defensive signals specifically for one player? Burlingame has that for Lavulo and when defensive coordinator Brian Von Almen turns Lavulo loose, he simply wreaks havoc.

And it wasn’t just defense. Lavulo also splits time on the offensive line and is just as dominant. On a Lauti 29-yard gain and Burlingame leading 21-0, Lavulo was 15 yards down the field, driving a defender backward before he simply gave him a two-hand shove and sent him sprawling.

Two plays later, Meredith made it 28-0 with an 8-yard scoring run.

And just to cap his monster day, Lavulo got one carry out of the backfield – converting on a third-and-goal from the 1-yard line. But he simply didn’t bull his way into the end zone, he actually went off right tackle and was untouched for a 35-0 Burlingame lead on the first drive of the second half.

“[Lavulo] is a dominant football player in every sense of the word,” Philipopoulos said. “He is, hands down, one of the best five players I’ve coached in my 20 years.”

Offensively, the Panthers did what they do — run, run and run some more. Ten players combined to rush for 350 yards on 36 carries. Lauti and Meredith combined to rush for 167 yards and three touchdowns on 14 carries.

But with both Lauti and Meredith out in the second half because of the score and injury, respectively, Philipopoulos turned to another back to essentially run out the clock.

Most teams would kill to have that kind of luxury because Yucef Benchohra would be a starter on most every other team in the Peninsula Athletic League. If there was anyone who benefitted from the time off, it was Benchohra, who has been banged up for most of the season.

But Saturday was his coming out party for his senior year. After carrying the ball three times for 15 yards in the first half, Benchohra finished the game with a game-leading 116 yards on just nine carries. He ran inside and outside, over and around defenders.

“Yucef finally looked like the Yucef from 2017,” Philipopoulos said. “He ran downhill, fast, over people, around people. That’s an added weapon for us.”

Kaufman then capped the scoring for the Panthers in the second half. He shrugged off pass interference and out-jumped the defensive back to haul in a Jordan Malashus pass for a 52-yard catch-and-run score to make it 42-0.

Malashus completed 5 of 16 passes for 103 yards and a score.

Kaufman then banged home a 40-yard field goal late in the third quarter for Burlingame’s final points of the game.

Next up for Burlingame is a meeting with No. 3 Overfelt at 7 p.m. Friday in Burlingame. Overfelt (9-2) buried No. 6 Santa Clara, 50-14.

“We’ll be practicing on Thursday (Thanksgiving), which is something I love to do,” Philipopoulos said.