Hawks put up 17 first-quarter points in the win 

The John Burroughs Bears began their season on a sour note, as they dropped their season opener 38-19 to the Hart Hawks. The Bears surrendered 17 first-quarter points in the blowout loss. Entering the contest Hart was coming off a week 0 loss to Quartz Hill by the final of 13-21, while Burroughs was just beginning the journey of chasing back-to-back Pacific League titles. Week 1 was also the Bears football head coaching debut of LaRon Johnson. 

In the opening quarter of play, the Hart Hawks got off to a fast start with Christian Limones kicking a 39-yard field goal to give the Hawks a 3-0 lead. On the first possession for the Bears, Giordan Lewis fumbled the ball in Burroughs territory which was recovered by the Hart defense to give them a short field position. Following the fumble recovery,  Jacob Paisano threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Parker Maxwell to put the Hawks up 10-0. Burroughs turned the ball over on downs on their second possession of the game, leading to Hart scoring another touchdown. Paisano connected with Maxwell again for a 27-yard pass to make it 17-0. 

In the second quarter, the Bears found a way to get on the scoreboard with a 15-yard touchdown run by Mateo Tarca, which gave the Bears offensive hopes of closing the gap with the Hawks. Hart responded with a 13-yard touchdown run by Zach Rogozik to put them up by 17 points. Jacob Paisano put the Hawks up 31-7 with a quarterback sneak before the halftime break. 

Following the halftime break Rogozik gave the Hawks a 38-7 lead for the only score of the third quarter. Burroughs scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. One of the scores was a 22-yard touchdown pass from Mingus Allen to Rocco Mellio, but the extra point attempt by Braden Turner was blocked by Timothy Tadler. The other touchdown was an 11-yard run by Matteeo Tarca, followed that up with an unsuccessful 2-point conversion attempt as he was stopped short of the goal line. 

“We started off ice cold and made too many mistakes early, but we gave Hart what they wanted for most of the night.” said new Bears coach LaRon Johnson. Johnson praised Mingus Allen (Campbell Hall transfer) for having a decent Burroughs debut, and admitted that he was the starting quarterback five minutes before kickoff but also said he showed why he was the choice at signal-caller. 

Burroughs drops to 0-1 while Hart improves to 1-1 on the season. Both teams will return to action next Friday, September 6th as Hart will take on Paraclete at home while Burroughs will take on Harvard Westlake, with both games slated for 7:00 p.m. The next home game for the Burroughs Bears will be on Friday, September 13th against Los Altos, also at 7:00 p.m.