Crescenta Valley football goes off script with new nonleague slate
It was once the same old nonleague schedule every season for Crescenta Valley High’s football team.
Then came 2017 and the Falcons played their first zero week game and took off to Florida to do so.
Now in 2018, Crescenta Valley will stay in Southern California but will take on an all-new trio of nonleague opponents and will face all three in August as the CIF Southern Section has moved its sports calendar up with week one of football slated for Aug. 24.
Crescenta Valley will open its season on Aug. 17 at home against Redondo Union before traveling to Santa Fe and Montebello.
“Redondo Union’s been in the works for a couple years,” Falcons coach Paul Schilling said.
As the story goes, current Redondo athletic director Andrew Saltsman, a Crescenta Valley High product who was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1991, was the driving force.
As for Santa Fe, which hosts the Falcons on Aug. 24 at 7 p.m., and Montebello, which welcomes CV on Aug. 31 at 7 p.m., those teams came into the mix due to the same reason from different parties.
Last year, Crescenta Valley played Golden Valley for the fourth straight season and won, 26-19, but Schilling said he was looking to get away from that matchup, although the teams will scrimmage on Aug. 10. Perhaps most notably, the Falcons will not play La Cañada in the Gordy Warnock Memorial Game as Schilling said the Spartans decided to go in another direction after Crescenta Valley won 11 straight, most of them via blowout.
The Falcons went 8-3 last season, losing in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division VI tournament to Mira Costa.
Crescenta Valley went a perfect 3-0 in nonleague play last season, opening up with a 34-31 win in Florida against Barron Collier to kick off the season. Playing Barron stopped a longtime run of going up against Verdugo Hills.
Redondo turned in a 6-5 season in 2017 against a tough schedule and lost in the first round of the Division IV postseason following a 4-1 runner-up finish in the Bay League.
“That’s going to be a tough one,” Schilling said.
Santa Fe posted a 6-5 record a season ago with a 5-0 run to a Del Rio League title before a first-round loss in the Division X playoffs to Gahr, 31-28.
After tying for second in the Almont League, Montebello ended the 2017 season with a 7-5 record following a 59-28 loss to Apple Valley in the Division X quarterfinals.
“I think all three of those games are good games,” Schilling said, “where we could be 3-0 or we could be 0-3.”
Beginning with the road trip to Santa Fe, Crescenta Valley will have three straight road games, concluding with the Pacific League opener at Muir on Sept. 14.
The Falcons will have a bye week prior to their league opener while Muir will be in action, which has Schilling pleased as his coaching staff will be able scout the game and will have an extra week to prepare for a Mustangs squad that’s always dangerous at home and is a bit of an unknown.
Seen by many as the favorite to win the Pacific League for a second season in a row in 2017, Crescenta Valley sputtered and finished third.
Still early in the spring/summer season, Arcadia, boasting some talented transfers, is already the favorite, but reigning champion Burbank has plenty of talent remaining.
Muir and Burroughs appear to be wild cards.
“You’ve got Arcadia up there and Burbank because you’ve got the quarterback and tight end back,” Schilling said. “So they’re gonna be good and they coach them up over there. And Arcadia, talent-wise, they’re at another level.
“We’re hoping to be in the mix.”
Crescenta Valley’s schedule plays out one school district at a time.
Following the Muir matchup, the Falcons will finally return home to Glendale High’s Moyse Field to host Pasadena.
Thereafter, both Burbank Unified School District squads will have a shot at CV with the Falcons hosting Burroughs on Sept. 28 before a showdown at Memorial Field against reigning league champion Burbank.
Crescenta Valley will then play its fellow Glendale Unified School District foes when it faces Glendale and Hoover on Oct. 12 and Oct. 19, respectively. The trio shares Moyse Field as its home.
And then comes the annual finale when the Falcons face Arcadia, which is the favorite in the eyes of many and is coming off a victory last season, 22-16, over the Falcons. Consequently, the game will be on Friday as it’s normally a Thursday game when CV hosts as the annual Glendale-Hoover “Battle for the Victory Bell” gets the Friday night slot.
Muir has traditionally been a difficult place to play and Crescenta Valley is also on the road against Burbank and Arcadia, the two teams it lost to a season ago in league. However, Schilling knows his history and in 2014 and 2016 when the Falcons won Pacific League titles (and a CIF Southern Section Southeast crown in the former) they were on the road for those three games, as well.
Said Schilling: “Hopefully that trend will continue.”
2018 Falcons Schedule
Aug. 17 vs. Redondo Union, 7 p.m.
Aug. 24 at Santa Fe, 7 p.m.
Aug. 31 at Montebello, 7 p.m.
Sept. 14 at Muir, 7 p.m.*
Sept. 21 vs. Pasadena, 7 p.m.*
Sept. 28 vs. Burroughs, 7 p.m.*
Oct. 5 at Burbank, 7 p.m.*
Oct. 12 vs. Glendale, 7 p.m.*
Oct. 19 vs. Hoover, 7 p.m.*
Oct. 26 at Arcadia, 7 p.m.*
*Denotes Pacific League game.
Twitter: @TCNGrantGordon
