Preview: Burbank Bulldogs vs. Harlandale Indians
After two games on the road, Burbank is heading back home. They will take on The Harlandale Indians at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Last Friday, Burbank beat Jefferson by the very same score they won with last week: 41-13. The result was nothing new for Burbank, who have now won three matches by 28 points or more so far this season.
Keven Hernandez continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 87 yards and a touchdown, while also throwing for 247 yards and three touchdowns while completing 92.9% of his passes. The team also got some help courtesy of Israel Zapata, who picked up 94 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, after a string of five wins, Harlandale's good fortune finally ran out on Friday. They suffered a rough 60-34 defeat at the hands of Alamo Heights. While losing is never fun, Harlandale can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 599th, while Alamo Heights is ranked 245th).
The losing side was boosted by Jacob Saucedo, who threw for 302 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 10.8 yards per attempt, and also punched in two touchdowns on the ground. Another player making a difference was Michael Palomino, who picked up 121 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Burbank's victory lifted them to 6-1 while Harlandale's loss dropped them down to 5-2.
Thursday's match will pit two of the most dominant signal callers against one another: Hernandez and Saucedo. Hernandez has put up some stellar numbers this year, and currently owns excellent season averages of 196.6 passing yards and three passing touchdowns per game this season. For his part, Saucedo has averaged 214.6 passing yards and two passing touchdowns per game this season.
Burbank was able to grind out a solid win over Harlandale in their previous matchup back in October of 2022, winning 32-22. Will Burbank repeat their success, or does Harlandale have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
