Burlingame Panthers take pride in emotional football win over King's Academy

TKA senior running back Noah Short accounted for over half the Knights’ offense while rushing 18 times for a game-high 120 yards. But after TKA took possession at its own 25-yard line with 3:39 to play, Knights head coach Pete Lavorato opted to consistently go to the air. The result, ultimately, was a turnover on downs, followed by an emotional celebration by Burlingame.

“It’s a huge win for us,” Philipopoulos said. “We lost a few close ones, Bay Division games, early in the year, a little disappointing. The offense struggled a little bit, but we were getting continuously better, working hard, staying positive, and this the byproduct.”

The Panthers (2-3) outgained the Knights 310-268 in total offense. And some early yellow flags took their toll as TKA incurred 83 yards of ill-timed penalties in the game.

But it was the emergence of Burlingame cornerback Greyson Bosshard that put an early stamp on the game. Making his first varsity start, the junior produced a key third-down tackle of Short inside the red zone to quell TKA’s opening drive.

“I think that changes everything,” Philipopoulos said. “They get the ball, they’re leaning on us a little bit, they had a nice seven-minute drive. And that’s a huge play right at the right time.”

TKA (1-2) indeed was on the march. A big running gain of 12 yards by Christian Gomez pushed the ball to the Burlingame 28, and pickups by Short of 5, 7, 9 and 4 helped the Knights into the red zone. But after a holding penalty negated a Short touchdown — marching TKA back to its 22 — Burlingame stifled two straight passes, including a third down toss from Gonzalez to Short.

An explosive combination of speed and strength, Short took a screen pass and, as he turned up field, there was just one red jersey between him and the end zone. That was Bosshard, who shed a fullback block and shot to the outside to wrap Short’s legs with an alligator tackle a yard behind the line of scrimmage.

“He’s powerful, he’s strong,” Bosshard said. “But I got both legs together, and once I felt both legs together in my arms, I knew I could bring him down.”

The ensuing missed field goal attempt from 32 yards set the Panthers up tidily at the 20 for their first possession. And the balanced offense swiftly went on the march, going 80 yards on 11 plays to put a dent in the scoreboard.

Burlingame running back Isaac Frankel (16 carries for 63 yards and a touchdown) proved the workhorse of the drive, chewing off gains of 4, 5, 4, 9, 11, 3 and 3 yards, the latter a perfectly executed power sweep that saw the stout senior dive across the goal line to give Burlingame a 7-0 lead.

It took the Panthers one play from scrimmage to take back possession on an interception by junior Nick Cilia. With prime field position starting at the TKA 39-yard line, the Panthers kept their marching feet moving. This time, senior quarterback Wyatt McGovern got it done via the aerial attack, with a clutch fourth-down throw to Elijah La Guardia for a 6-yard pickup to the 28 and a first down. Four plays later, McGovern connected with Jackson Giovara for a 9-yard scoring pass to push the lead up to 14-0.

McGovern went on to complete 9 of 12 passes for 99 yards and two touchdowns, establishing both tempo and intensity with his crisp passing looks.

“Wyatt has been a great leader,” Philipopoulos said. “He’s progressively gotten better each week. He has control of the offense, control of the defense, he’s having a heck of a season. And every week I keep saying — and it’s been back-to-back-to-back — tonight he had his best high school game, three weeks in a row.”

TKA incurred just two holding penalties in the first half, but they both negated touchdowns. An 11-yard scoring run by Short on the Knights’ first drive was brought back. Then on the first play from scrimmage after Burlingame’s second score, Short broke loose for a 45-yard sprint to the end zone, only for TKA again to be marched back.

“That happened to us a few times in this game where we go down and score, and: ‘oh, no, we didn’t score,’” Lavorato said. “But it is what it is. I’m not taking anything away from Burlingame. They played a really hard football game, they played tough, and they ran the ball against us.”

But the Knights took momentum into the locker room by scoring with 11 seconds remaining in the first half. TKA forced a three-and-out and took possession with 4:04 to go before the break. Short made a highlight-reel run inside the red zone, hurdling two downed bodies for a 23-yard pickup to the Burlingame 18. It took seven more plays, but the Knights finally pounded it in on fourth-and-1 when senior Antonio Gonzalez dove low across the goal line on a quarterback sneak to make it 14-7.

In the third quarter, TKA would again face a fourth-down chance, this time at the Burlingame 6. But Gonzalez went to the air this time, looking over the middle but firing into a sea of red jerseys for a broken-up pass, forcing a turnover on downs.

Then Burlingame marched the other way for their longest drive of the night, using nine plays to go 94 yards. The cap came on the first play of the fourth quarter when McGovern unloaded a 27-yard scoring pass over the middle, hitting tight end Charlie Koch right in the hands for the touchdown.

“We just said: ‘Oh man, those seams are there,’” Philipopoulos said. “We were getting some pretty good yards on the run game, that seam was there, we faked the run, the safety bit, the corner was way outside, and it was easy.”

Burlingame looked to have the game in hand when, on TKA’s next play from scrimmage, a fumbled reception gave the Panthers back the ball. But five plays later, Burlingame junior Ryan Kall — fresh into the game at quarterback — had a pass picked off by Gonzalez, setting up the Knights’ last scoring drive.

Gonzalez took matters into his own hands with a big 14-yard scramble, escaping the grasp of two Burlingame rushers to break up field. Then the senior went to the air over the middle with a rocket for junior Jake Taddie to haul in with a high, over-the-top grab in stride to the end zone for a 35-yard score.

Burlingame advanced past midfield on the following drive and took another shot downfield for Koch on third and long. But this time McGovern’s pass was just a tad out front and went off Koch’s fingertips, forcing the Panthers to punt.

TKA made a quick advance on an 11-yard pickup by Short, but the air attack then failed when, on fourth-and-9 from the Knights’ 37, a quick pass saw Taddie forced into a knee slide to make the catch 3 yards shy of the first-down marker, forcing a turnover on downs with less than two minutes to go.

“This game was kind of funky,” Lavorato said. “And maybe it was because of the emotions of the last game (after a dramatic win over Half Moon Bay), but I thought we didn’t come out quite as emotional as I thought we were going to be. And I think Burlingame kind of took it to us for a while there.”

The emotion was palpable on both sides of the field. And in an abbreviated season, that almost didn’t happen, Lavorato offered a keen insight into the meaning of a season — with no standings, no playoffs, and no championships to be had — that has been deemed by many as “meaningless.”

“I think it’s simple,” Lavorato said. “It’s basically a year of pent-up emotion from not knowing if you were going to have football. And then when you realize you’re going to play football, there’s only going to be four games, no playoffs; I told the kids every game is like a championship because there is no championship. So, each game means a lot.”