Burroughs Stunt Team Falls 26-18 to Moorpark

Burroughs High School’s Stunt team dropped a 26-18 decision to visiting Moorpark on Thursday, a result that stung but didn’t tell the whole story of how far the Bears have come.

Finding opponents isn’t easy for a program like Burroughs. The Bears are one of only two Pacific League schools with a Stunt team, which means they frequently have to schedule nonleague matchups just to get competitive reps. Thursday’s match against Moorpark was exactly that, a nonleague contest that brought a seasoned Musketeers squad into the gym and gave Burroughs a real measuring stick.

Moorpark had the edge from the jump.

The Musketeers opened the first quarter by earning two points on routine two while Burroughs collected one. Burroughs didn’t field a team for routine five, and Moorpark couldn’t capitalize on the opening, failing to score there. Each team picked up a point on routines three and four respectively, and the quarter ended with Moorpark ahead.

The second quarter went much the same way. Moorpark kept adding to its lead, outscoring Burroughs 2-1 on routine two and splitting routine one evenly, one point apiece. By halftime, the Bears trailed 9-5. Not insurmountable, but a gap that would require a strong second half to close.

They couldn’t do it.

Moorpark came out of the intermission and immediately extended the lead, earning a point on routine four before both teams split routine one. The Musketeers pushed the advantage to 12-6 after routine two in the third period. Burroughs answered with two points on routine three to cut the deficit to 13-8 heading into the fourth, but the damage was done.

The fourth quarter was Moorpark’s best. The Musketeers swept routine four, earning points in partner stunts, jumps and tumbling, and pyramids and tosses. They added two more points in partner stunts on routine one. Both teams split the jumps and tumbling and pyramids and tosses portions of that routine.

Burroughs closed the match with some bright spots. The Bears earned two points in jumps and tumbling on routine two and two more in pyramids and tosses on routine three. Not enough to flip the final score, but enough to show what the team is capable of.

That’s the part coach Alyssa Magoon wanted to focus on afterward.

“The team did great today. This is one of our higher scoring games against a really competitive team,” Magoon told reporters after the match. “Moorpark has been competing for a few years more than us. It was great to see us competitive. We gave it our all. My athletes were giving it their best and it was really awesome to see.”

Magoon is in her third year leading the program. She knows where this team started and she knows where it’s going.

Stunt is a competitive team sport that evolved from competitive cheer, structured around four routines that isolate different skills: partner stunts, jumps and tumbling, pyramids and tosses, and a group routine. It’s governed competition, scored like gymnastics, and it’s growing. California has been one of the leading states in developing the sport at the high school level, though team counts in most leagues remain thin, which is exactly why Burroughs ends up scheduling nonleague games against schools from leagues like Moorpark’s.

The Bears are members of the Almont League. Moorpark is not. But when you’ve got a specialty program with limited opponents, you take the games where you can find them and you use them to build.

Still, 18 points against a squad that’s been at this longer than Burroughs has is nothing to dismiss. Magoon said it herself. This was one of the program’s higher-scoring outputs.

MyBurbank had full game coverage of Thursday’s match, including the quarter-by-quarter breakdown.

The Bears will need to keep scheduling tough nonleague competition if the program is going to grow. More games mean more reps. More reps mean better scores. And better scores mean, eventually, wins over teams like Moorpark.

Thursday wasn’t that day. But you could see the trajectory.