Glendale Community College football schedule has few changes

At first glance, there aren’t many differences between the 2013 schedule and the recently released 2014 schedule for the Glendale Community College football team.

The Vaqueros face eight of the 10 squads they took on last year, with the two new additions filling in the first two weeks of the season.

“It’s a rotational schedule,” Vaqueros Coach John Rome said. “We try to play teams with like records who match up with us on the power rankings. You look at our win-loss record prior to last year and it wasn’t great, so we’ll take what we get.”

Glendale enjoyed its best season during the Rome era last year, finishing tied for third in the American Pacific Conference standings and posting a 6-4 record, which marked the program’s first winning campaign since 2007.

The Vaqueros also had a chance to win the Pacific Division title and earn a bowl bid, but were turned away by Los Angeles Pierce College in the final game of the season, 41-16.

Going off the win-loss record from 2013, the Vaqueros’ schedule slightly stiffens.

Last season, Glendale’s opponents tallied a 45-57 record (.441 winning percentage) with two bowl game appearances.

That record is bumped up to 50-52 (.490 winning percentage) this year due to the inclusion of East Los Angeles College (3-7) and Mt. San Jacinto College (4-6) at the cost of dropping Compton College (0-10) and San Diego Mesa (2-8).

All of Glendale’s opponents hail from the second-tier American Conference, with the three non-Pacific Division teams belonging to the Mountain Division.

“We’re just going to have to play the schedule the way it was drawn up,” Rome said. “It’s all relative. If we were playing some other schools first or schools from the higher [National Conference] then it would be different.”

If the season were broken up into halves, the first five games would appear to be more arduous than the back half of the year.

Glendale officially opens its season Sept. 6 at Sartoris Field versus visiting East Los Angeles College before heading on the road for the second-longest trip of the season, a 170-mile trek into the desert to face Mt. San Jacinto College on Sept. 13.

Perhaps the real gauntlet takes place over the next three weeks, as the Vaqueros take on arguably the three toughest teams on their schedule.

Glendale hosts San Bernardino Valley College (8-3) on Sept. 20 in the final non-divisional match-up of the season. Last year, the Wolverines handed the Vaqueros their worst defeat of the season, 45-18, in San Bernardino.

After that, Glendale is road-bound the next two weeks, traveling to Los Angeles Pierce (9-2) on Sept. 27 in the Pacific Division opener before facing Santa Monica City College (8-2) on Oct. 4.

Three of the Vaqueros’ four defeats last year came to San Bernardino Valley, Los Angeles Pierce and Santa Monica.

“I don’t know if there is a team that stands out on the schedule this year,” Vaqueros returning quarterback Sean Murphy said. “The only teams I really want to face are the teams we lost to.”

Only two of Glendale’s first five games are at home versus a slate of opponents that included two bowl qualifiers from last year and a total overall mark of 32-20 (.615 winning percentage).

If the Vaqueros can survive a strong first five games, then the back half of the schedule appears favorable after a bye.

Glendale’s last five teams combined for an 18-32 record (.360 winning percentage) with only one squad above .500.

Yet, a losing record doesn’t necessarily equate to a victory as was evidenced by Glendale’s 37-30 defeat to Antelope Valley College (4-6) last season.

The Vaqueros will seek revenge on Oct. 18 at home.

That contest is followed by a road tilt at Los Angeles Southwest College (2-8) on Oct. 25, which precedes the last two homes games of the season versus West Los Angeles College (1-9) on Nov. 1 and against Los Angeles Valley College (4-6) on Nov. 8.

Glendale concludes its 2014 season on Nov. 15 at the site of its biggest victory of 2013 at Santa Barbara City College.

The Vaqueros totaled seven sacks and three turnovers in forging a momentous 24-17 upset victory at Santa Barbara (7-3) last season in the second-to-last-game of the season, which thrust Glendale into a season-concluding winner-take-all contest versus Los Angeles Pierce.

The 189-mile road trip is the longest of the season.

“It was that game, that win that proved we could do something great,” Murphy said. “I really hope when we play at Santa Barbara this year, we’ll have another chance at the conference title.”

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Follow Andrew J. Campa on Twitter: @campadresports.