When people see Burlingame beat Homestead 26-13 Friday night, the perception will be the Mustangs gave the Panthers a game.
The reality is, however, it wasn’t even close. Burlingame scored its third touchdown of the night less than two minutes into the third quarter to take a 26-0 lead before Burlingame head coach John Philipopoulos took his foot off the gas and inserted his second- and third-string players to close out the game, giving up 13 Homestead points on their final two drives of the game.
“All in all, we did a pretty good job,” Philipopoulos said. “We would have liked to finish the game a little cleaner.”
A lot of coaches would not feel comfortable to sit their starters with a 26-point lead so early in the third quarter. But the way Burlingame dominated the first three quarters, it was easy for Philipopoulos to make the move.
“We have a big roster. We want to give them some quality reps,” Philipopoulos said.
If Philipopoulos kept his defensive starters in, there is a good chance the Panthers would have a pitched a shutout. In the first two quarters, Burlingame (4-0 overall) held Homestead (2-2) to just a pair of first downs and just 6 yards of offense. The Panthers forced the Mustangs to punt on four of their six first-half possessions. Their other two possessions ended in fumbles, recovered by the Panthers.
Burlingame finished the game with three sacks.
“We wanted to shut them down inside and force them to get out their comfort zone,” said Burlingame defensive Abe Haba.
Mission accomplished and Haba had a big hand helping shut down the Homestead offense. Coming off the right end, Haba had three tackles for a loss, including a sack which the referee mercifully marked at the 1-yard line instead of giving Haba the safety. He had a fourth tackle for no gain.
“A lot of that goes to my teammates. We have some amazing (interior) defensive linemen,” Haba said. “Our defense, we have studs everywhere. Today, I was the one to eat.”
“Abe has been unbelievable,” Philipopoulos said. “He’s just been dominant.”
As good as the Panthers were defensively in the first half, they were even better in the third quarter. By the time the teams switched ends to begin the fourth quarter, Homestead had negative-3 yards of offense.
The Mustangs, however, did manage to end up with 130 yards as Derek Sheerer broke off a 66-yard touchdown run midway through the final quarter. On their final drive, the Mustangs marched 57 yards on 11 plays, culminating with a Charlie Castaneda 1-yard touchdown pass to Will Hook.
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Burlingame’s stellar defensive effort helped mask a Panthers offense that, while it moved the ball, struggled to finish some drives. They had to settle for a pair of Ryan Kall field goals, who also missed a pair from 42 and 47 yards, respectively.
But that was about the only time Kall failed because when he was under center as the Panthers’ starting quarterback, he was nearly perfect. He completed 10-of-12 passes for 149 and a touchdown in the first half. He completed his only attempt in the second half to finish 11-for-13 for 193 yards and a 9-yard scoring pass to Lukas Habelt.
While the Homestead offense was shut down, the Mustangs defense did keep them in the game. Much like the Panthers, the Mustangs did a good job of slowing Burlingame’s running game as the Panthers finished with just 89 yards on 35 carries. Elijah LaGuardia led Burlingame with 29 yards. Habelt finished with 28 as 10 players got a carry.
“Our run game was a little inconsistent,” Philipopoulos said. “Their big nose guard gave us a little trouble.”
After forcing Homestead to punt on its first possession, Burlingame took over in Mustangs territory. The Panthers moved the ball to the 20 before the drive stalled and they settled for a Kall 37-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.
On their next possession, Burlingame needed only three plays to go 50 yards. Kall hooked up with LaGuardia for a 46-yard gain on the first play, with Kall rolling out to his left and finding LaGuardia wide open.
After a botched snap on the second play, Kall and LaGuardia hooked up for the 9-yard score and a 10-0 Burlingame advantage.
The Mustangs forced Burlingame to turn the ball over on downs on the Panthers’ next possession, but they got the ball right back when Carter St. Geme recovered a fumble on the next play.
The Panthers took advantage of the turnover, with Kall converting a 39-yard field goal for a 13-0 lead with 439 left in the first half.
The Panthers got the ball back following another Mustangs’ punt and they marched 85 yards on 10 plays with LaGuardia scoring from 4 yards out to put the Panthers up 19-0.
Xavier Bruening recovered a Homestead fumble with two second left in the first half, but Kall’s 42-yard field goal attempt was tipped at the line of scrimmage as the Panthers had to settle for a 19-0 lead at halftime.
When LaGuardia scored his third touchdown of the game to open the second half — a 3-yard run after picking up 44 yards on a Kall play-action pass — it was time for the Burlingame substitutes to get some run.
“We’re not just thinking about today, we’re thinking about six, seven weeks down the line,” Philipopoulos said. “We’re going to need those guys.”
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