Glendale YMCA Quarterback Club: Glendale Community College’s Rome finally picks up big win

The Glendale YMCA Quarterback Club, in its 74th year, meets Tuesdays at the Elk’s Lodge. The following are odds and ends from the eighth meeting of the year.

ROME CLIMBS UP THE LADDER

There is no disputing that the largest round of applause Tuesday afternoon was for Glendale Community College Coach John Rome.

It’s been a trying season for the veteran, whose squad was winless up until Saturday afternoon’s victory over Pasadena City College, 25-3.

The triumph did many things, first of which was put the Vaqueros (1-6) in the win column. The win also delivered the program its first-ever American Metro League triumph and its first win over PCC since 1988.

Less noted was the win also snapped Rome’s personal nine-game losing streak in attempting to pick up his 30th career victory at Glendale.

With the triumph, Rome moved into the Vaqueros’ coaching record book’s winningest coaches, as he’s now tied with Bill Reinhard at No. 5 with 30 wins.

“We haven’t stop celebrating that win,” Rome quipped. “I’m very proud of my association with Glendale Community College. Whatever that final win total ends up being, I’ll be very happy.”

While Glendale only has three games remaining this season, beginning with a home contest on Saturday at 1 p.m. versus El Camino-Compton College, there are still milestones within reach.

Rome is a game behind Sam Tenison (31) for fourth place and is two games behind his own personal-best record of 32 wins, set when he was the head coach at Citrus College from 1995 to 2000.

GLENDALE ENJOYS LITTLE ASPECTS OF DIFFICULT GAME

The 2016 campaign has been difficult for the Glendale High football team.

The squad is winless in league and endured a particularly devastating Pacific League loss to Muir on Thursday, 62-26.

In that contest, the Nitros (1-7) lost five starters, three that suffered season-ending injuries. Two of those key injuries happened to linebacker Matthew Torres and lineman Narvick Mousamoghaddam.

Despite all those setbacks, it was an injury comeback note that proved positive for the Nitros.

Glendale quarterback Tyler Artavia connected on a 13-yard touchdown pass to senior Matthew Bejanian in the second quarter.

According to Glendale Coach George Maiale, the touchdown marked a special moment for a player who had his own health struggles.

“It was the first time he’s been in the end zone as a varsity player,” Maiale said of Bejanian. “That was good to see. He was coming off a broken ankle from last year, where he also tore the tendons in his foot.

“We’ve tried to give him the ball as much as possible, but he just hasn’t been as explosive as we’d like to see. So, him coming back from this and getting a touchdown was just incredible.”

TIME IS NOT ON CRESCENTA VALLEY’S SIDE

Crescenta Valley Coach Paul Schilling believes in the virtue of a ball-control offense; well, most of the time.

In reviewing tape of Crescenta Valley’s 38-9 Pacific League victory over Burroughs High on Friday, Schilling was shocked to notice one big discrepancy.

The coach noted that his team only possessed the ball for 15 minutes, versus Burroughs running the ball behind Division I running back Chance Bell for 33 minutes.

“That’s the stat of the day,” Schilling said. “We had 38 points to their nine points. We made really valuable usage of the time when we had the ball. We had four touchdowns and a field goal in that time span.”

As for Burroughs’ Bell, Schilling didn’t exactly buy into the hype of his team’s shutdown performance of the San Diego State-bound running back.

“We definitely had a bend-but-don’t-break mentality with Chance Bell,” Schilling said. “Most people kept on telling me, ‘Hey you stopped him, you stopped him.’ When I looked at the paper the next day, he had 195 yards.

“At least we kept him out of the end zone and kept them to field goals, which is worth it.”