Complete, With a Catch

BURBANK — There it is, popping off the stat sheet like a full moon in a dark winter sky.

A big zero.

Glenn Adriatico played an entire high school football game without a catch last week.

It happens to other receivers. But not to Adriatico, the top returning receiver in the region.

The Burroughs High senior had 147 catches for 2,275 yards--both school records--the past two seasons.

Then came the season opener against Moorpark, and he was shut out.

“I was pretty disappointed at first,” Adriatico said. “But you know what? We won the game and that’s what counts.”

Indeed, Burroughs did, 14-6, with Adriatico, who is within striking distance of the Southern Section Top 10 in more than one career receiving category, playing a new role.

He rushed nine times for 43 yards and a touchdown and also completed a 19-yard pass that set up Burroughs’ second score.

Adriatico had five catches, but they all were nullified by penalties. But he isn’t complaining that he’s without a reception going into Burroughs’ game tonight at top-ranked Notre Dame.

“I’ll do anything it takes to win the game,” said Adriatico, a two-time All Southern Section selection and two-time Times’ All-Valley choice. “If I’m a decoy, or if I have to run the ball or make a play on special teams or defense, I’ll do it.”

He did a little of everything against Moorpark, lining up in the backfield in several short-yardage situations, going into motion from the slot position to take handoffs, and throwing that pass.

“In practice he throws a pretty good ball,” Burroughs Coach Keith Knoop said. “But that one [in the game] was an ugly duckling.”

Knoop said he is not interested in making Adriatico a running back. Rather, he is trying to get him the ball in a variety of ways so teams can’t key on him as a receiver.

“I stole the idea from Hart,” Knoop said. “We were watching what they did with Cody Joyce last year and they had success. Like they say, all great ideas were stolen.”

Adriatico’s new role was prompted by the graduation of quarterback J.K. Scott, a Times’ All-Valley selection who earned a scholarship to Washington. Scott threw for 4,777 yards and 42 touchdowns in two seasons, but without him the Indians lack a proven passer to get the ball down field.

“As coaches, we had to be smart enough to get him the ball any way we could,” Knoop said. “And he agreed. He’s not worried about all the stats and the record books, he just likes winning.”

Chris Santoyo and Ryan Sullivan are platooning at quarterback, but neither has much experience.

“I don’t want to sound like I’m ripping our quarterbacks,” Adriatico said. “But we lost a Division I quarterback. Obviously we’re not going to have the same ability to throw as much.”

Adriatico is needed in the backfield now more than ever. Robert Barillas, the Indians’ top running back, twisted his ankle on his first carry against Moorpark. He is out indefinitely.

Although he has never played running back, Adriatico hasn’t let lack of experience slow him down before. He had never played tackle football before enrolling a Burroughs, yet found success almost immediately.

After starring for the freshman team, he became a varsity starter as a sophomore and led the region with 62 catches for 913 yards.

Last season, he caught 85 passes for 1,362 yards. SuperPrep Magazine ranked him No. 103 among California college football prospects coming into this season.

“I don’t come from an athletic family, but now I have a chance to play in college,” Adriatico said. “Schools are actually giving me a look. It’s pretty cool.”

The knock on Adriatico as a college prospect is his 5-foot-9, 165-pound frame. Some might also say his 4.7-second speed in the 40-yard dash isn’t fast enough.

Knoop says recruiters shouldn’t be fooled.

“He’s real shifty and slippery and hard to get a hold of,” Knoop said. “We made a highlight tape of him and I’d say that of the 150 catches he’s made over the last two years, he’s done something special on 100 of them.

“He’s made somebody miss, accelerated past somebody, ran somebody over, made a great catch. . . something.”

Burbank Coach Gary Willison, whose team is well acquainted with Adriatico’s feats, said the receiver is deceiving.

“When I looked at him I thought he’d never survive and that he didn’t have speed,” Willison said. “But he’s real athletic, respectable, intense and polite. I think he plays over his ability because he has an overwhelming desire to excel.”

Whether that desire will translate into big numbers in his new role remains to be seen.

“It’s a lot harder to get yardage,” Adriatico said. “ . . . But it’s pretty cool because I’ve never really run the ball before.

“Hey, at least I’m getting the ball somehow.”