Burroughs Boys Golf Wins Pacific League Match No. 3

John Burroughs High School’s boys golf team topped Pacific League Match No. 3 on Wednesday at Brookside Golf Club in Pasadena, beating Arcadia for the second time this season with a team score of 386.

Two strokes. That’s what separated the Bears from Arcadia, which finished second at 388. It’s a margin that tells you everything about where this league stands right now at the top. Crescenta Valley came in third, and Burbank High finished fourth with a 445.

Seth Malapote did the heavy lifting. The Burroughs junior carded a 71 to lead all individual scorers on the day, a round steady enough to keep the Bears in front when Arcadia made its push. Sophomore Kahleo Palma shot 73, and junior Dominic Lingad followed at 74. Those three gave Burroughs a core that’s hard to match anywhere in the Pacific League right now. Senior Tyler Jones posted an 81, sophomore Jhared Concepcion shot 88, and junior Jarren Parungao rounded out the team card with a 97.

Beating Arcadia once in a season is something most Pacific League programs can hang their hat on. Burroughs has done it twice. At Brookside, which sits along the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena with the Rose Bowl visible from several fairways, that’s not an accident. The course doesn’t forgive sloppy iron play, and 386 as a team score means at least three players were hitting greens consistently and keeping bogeys off the card. The Bears did that Wednesday.

Arcadia’s 388 wasn’t a failure. That’s a good team score on a demanding course. It just wasn’t good enough, and that’s what makes Burroughs’ position in this league worth paying attention to. “It’s never easy beating Arcadia,” he said, “and these kids have done it twice.”

Match results from Brookside show Burroughs winning all three Pacific League matches played so far this spring, which puts the Bears squarely in contention for a league title with the back half of the schedule still ahead.

On the Burbank side, the Bulldogs didn’t have the depth to compete with the top two teams Wednesday, but there were individual bright spots. Senior Seiji Frye led Burbank with an 81, a number that holds up fine in Pacific League company. Senior Harris McCormick shot 88. Junior Dominic D’Alfonso and senior Noah Grigorian each came in at 90. Senior Liam Collazos carded a 96, and senior Brandon Kim closed the card at 103. Burbank’s 445 reflects a team that’s still building, but Frye’s performance showed the Bulldogs have at least one player who can compete on the same course as the league’s best.

Crescenta Valley’s third-place finish kept them ahead of Burbank but well off Burroughs’ pace. The gap between first and third in this match wasn’t close enough to suggest a sudden reshuffling at the top of the standings.

What Burroughs has built this spring is a lineup that doesn’t collapse when one scorer has an off round. Malapote’s 71 anchors the card, but 73 and 74 from Palma and Lingad mean the Bears don’t need perfection from their top player to stay competitive. That’s the kind of roster construction that wins league titles, not just individual matches.

Brookside Golf Club can expose a team’s weaknesses fast. It’s a long, open layout where approach shots matter and the greens punish anything hit without conviction. Burroughs has now played it twice in league competition and come out on top both times. That won’t go unnoticed when coaches start talking about who’s for real in the Pacific League this spring.

The Bears won’t have Wednesday to sit on. League play keeps moving, and Arcadia isn’t going to stop competing just because it’s dropped two close matches to Burroughs. But right now, the Bears hold the lead, and Malapote, Palma, and Lingad give them every reason to think they can keep it.