Glendale Community College gets another crack at first victory
Over the course of the first three games, the Glendale Community College football team has shown signs of improvement.
Improvement aside, it hasn’t yet translated into a victory for the Vaqueros.
Glendale will get another opportunity to post its first win when it takes on host L.A. Valley in a nonconference game at 7 p.m. Saturday.
It will be the final nonconference contest for the Vaqueros (0-3). Glendale will then begin action in the newly formed American Metro League on Oct. 1 at home against West L.A.
Glendale Coach John Rome said the Vaqueros would like to pick up some steam following a 21-19 home defeat against Mount San Jacinto on Saturday.
“I thought we competed against Mt. San Jacinto,” Rome said. “We had a few mistakes across the board, but we played hard and we’ll have to do that again against a very talented team in Valley.
“It’s time for us to grow up, learn from our mistakes and try to win some games. We are capable of doing that.”
Sophomore David Arriaga will get the nod at quarterback for the third straight game. Arriaga completed nine of 29 passes for 86 yards against Mt. San Jacinto. He rushed for a 23-yard touchdown. Overall, Arriaga has completed 18 of 50 passes for 168 yards and three touchdowns.
The Vaqueros finished with 261 yards of offense.
Sophomore linebacker Cody Shoemaker leads the defense with 14 tackles. .
“We have to take a lot of the positive things we did [against Mt. San Jacinto] and move them into the Valley game,” said Shoemaker, who has notched 14 tackles. “We just want to continue getting better on defense, offense and special teams. We know we can do that.”
Glendale is likely to receive a stiff test from Valley (2-0), which is ranked third in the California Community College Regional State Southern American Division poll. Valley had a bye last week after registering a 23-14 nonconference road win against College of the Desert on Sept. 10. The Monarchs have allowed just 21 points in their first two games.
Valley saw Kalawaia Judd and Christian Jorgenson split the quarterback chores against Desert as the offense has been balanced but hardly spectacular. It has been the defense that has led the way, having allowed an average of just 216 yards over two games while racking up 10 sacks.
Glendale will look to avoid beginning a season with four straight losses for the first time since 2011, when it lost its first nine games and finished 1-9.
Glendale and Valley have split their last six meetings. Glendale won three straight games before suffering a 15-7 road loss last season.
The Vaqueros and Monarchs competed in the American Pacific Conference the last six seasons. Valley remains in the conference.
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Charles Rich, charles.rich@latimes.com
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
