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Weekly Football Previews: La Cañada, St. Francis ready for parking crunch

La Cañada High’s Matt Bromley and his teammates are looking to pick up a victory Friday night against Crescenta Valley.
(Raul Roa/Staff Photographer)
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An inability to compromise has led to the potential for a parking and traffic mess Friday evening in La Cañada Flintridge.

Neither the La Cañada High football team nor St. Francis moved its nonleague home game this Friday, meaning both schools, located a stone’s throw away from each other, will be hosting games on the same night in an area strapped for parking on a normal game day.

While every win is important, the Spartans can really use a victory or even just a close game.

La Cañada is 0-3 and off to its worst start since 2008. The Spartans dropped contests to Hawthorne (50-12) and Kaiser (55-0) with a forfeit loss to South Hills sandwiched in between.

While the Falcons and Spartans have seen their ups and downs over the last several years in the annual Gordy Warnock Memorial Game, this rivalry has been steady.

Crescenta Valley has won 10 straight contests, including last season’s 51-12 rout, and has posted an average margin of victory of 32.2 points in the last five games of this series. It was 2006 when La Cañada last bested Crescenta Valley, 14-6, at Moyse Field.

The numbers so far this season would suggest a similar outcome Friday as previous years.

Crescenta Valley enters having won 10 consecutive regular season games, a streak that began at last year’s memorial contest.

This season, Crescenta Valley (2-0) has posted victories over Florida’s Barron Collier (34-31) and Golden Valley (26-19).

While the passing game hasn’t quite taken off for the Falcons, who are averaging 123 yards per game, the ground attack is chewing up 234.5 yards each contest.

Defensively, Crescenta Valley has registered six sacks and six takeaways.

La Serna at St. Francis, 7 p.m. Friday: As if from a bygone era, the Whittier La Serna Lancers head into Friedman Field with a wing-T offense that wreaks havoc on unsuspecting or unprepared defenses.

But the Golden Knights are plenty familiar with the Lancers. Last season, St. Francis registered a 24-21 victory in Whittier after consecutive postseason losses to La Serna in 2015 and 2014.

The La Serna offense is averaging 174 rushing yards a game with three backs each tallying 22 or more carries.

Senior Alfonso Ibanez leads the team in total yardage (29 carries for 209 yards) and yards per carry (7.2). If there has been a drawback to La Serna’s rushing attack, it’s that the team has fumbled three times already.

On defense, the Lancers (2-1) have a play-making senior safety in Calvin Salcido, who is averaging six tackles a game and has two interceptions.

St. Francis has rolled to a 2-0 record, albeit against teams that have combined for a 0-5 record.

Sophomore Darius Perrantes has shined in two games for the Golden Knights and follows in a line of recent successful transfer quarterbacks at St. Francis in Michael Bonds (2016), Miles Bryant (2015) and Jared Lebowitz (2012).

Perrantes has completed 20 of 34 passes for 539 yards and eight touchdowns versus two interceptions. Senior Greg Dulcich has proven to be a big-play wide receiver in averaging 27.1 yards per catch with three touchdowns.

While the Golden Knights have put up the points, the defense has silently been effective.

St. Francis is coming off a 42-0 shutout win over Pasadena and the team’s tackling will be tested.

Flintridge Prep at Cate, 2:30 p.m. Saturday: Perhaps the best game of the weekend is Saturday in eight-man football action.

The Rebels turned in a spectacular effort in rallying to score 30 straight points and stun Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, 37-34, last Friday.

They’ll hope the magic continues when the Rebels (2-1) travel to Carpinteria Cate (0-1) to face a traditionally tough Rams squad.

Last season, the Rams finished the regular season ranked No. 5, while Flintridge Prep was No. 6. Cate defeated Flintridge Prep, 55-48, in La Cañada in a thriller.

The Rams are a member of the vaunted eight-man Mt. Pinos League, which features Villanova Prep, Thacher and Orcutt Academy, which took apart Flintridge Prep, 51-23, in Santa Maria on Sept. 1.

Cate’s lone contest this season was a 43-12 defeat to defending eight-man champion Mojave on Sept. 1.

andrew.campa@latimes.com

Twitter: @campadresports

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