Nitros continue to cherish win against rival Tornadoes
SOUTHEAST GLENDALE —- The Glendale YMCA Quarterback Club, in its 70th year, meets Tuesdays at the Elk’s Lodge. The following are odds and ends from the ninth meeting of the year.
TUTTLE, POLICKY REWIND
TO VICTORY CLASH
The memories from many of the plays that took place in the latest chapter of the annual “Battle for the Victory Bell,” still burn bright in the minds of Glendale High football Coach John Tuttle and Hoover Coach Andrew Policky. The teams wrapped up their respective seasons Friday with Glendale posting a 44-13 Pacific League victory against crosstown rival Hoover and maintaining possession of the bell for the third straight season.
In beating Crescenta Valley and Hoover this season, Glendale (3-7, 2-5 in league) also won the city championship for the first time since 2003. Hoover finished 3-7, 1-6.
“It was my first experience being involved [with] the bell,” said Tuttle, who saw Daniel Jung score three total touchdowns in the game. “The atmosphere was awesome and we were fortunate to come out with a win.
“It’s a great way to end the season and great to for our kids to win the city championship.”
Policky fell to 0-2 as a head coach in the rivalry game.
Policky said the Tornadoes were forced to play catch-up after committing a pair of early turnovers that led directly to Glendale taking a quick 13-0 lead.
“It wasn’t quite as cool or exciting for us,” Policky said. “The wheels came off the wagon almost right away.
“We fumble a snap when we were driving well and then we fumbled a kickoff after their first score. I tip my hat to John because he had his team ready to play. He got them fired up and they took it to us. We have to get back on the saddle and get ready for next year and I’m excited about the direction we are going.”
NO MOTIVATION NEEDED WAKING UP
After St. Francis closed out the regular season Friday with a 34-14 Mission League home win against St. Paul at Friedman Field, St. Francis Coach Jim Bonds figured the Golden Knights could make a case that they belonged in the CIF Southern Section Western Division playoffs. St. Francis finished 4-6, 1-4 in league and appeared on the verge of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2007.
With one at-large berth still available in the division after league rival Harvard-Westlake grabbed the first one by virtue of going 6-4, 2-3, it came down to St. Francis and Ventura (6-4). St. Francis spent the majority of the season ranked in the division. Ventura took third in the Channel League.
“We weren’t sure if the St. Paul game would be our last game,” said Bonds, whose team took fifth in league. “In looking at the criteria, we didn’t have any head-to-head games against Ventura or even any common opponents.
“It came down to strength of schedule and the league we play in. We played ranked teams like [Gardena] Serra, Chaminade and Harvard-Westlake, who were all ranked. I got on the Internet at home. When I saw that we made the playoffs, I was happy and I scared my wife.”
St. Francis’ reward for making the playoffs? A 260-mile road trip to face top-seeded Lompoc (10-0) in a first-round game at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Lompoc (10-0) won the Los Padres League championship and has scored at least 30 points in nine of those contests.
Bonds said the Golden Knights will be up to the challenge against Lompoc.
“We know they have a very good team,” Bonds said. “We think we are ready from being battle tested from the Mission League against teams like Serra and Chaminade.”
FALCONS RELISHING WIN AGAINST RIVAL
While Crescenta Valley won’t be a part of the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division playoffs, the Falcons at least finished up the season strong with a pair of Pacific League wins against Hoover and rival Arcadia.
Guiding the Falcons to those wins was sophomore quarterback Brian Gadsby, who was called up from the junior varsity team prior to the Hoover contest. Gadsby threw a touchdown in the Hoover contest and certainly impressed Crescenta Valley Coach Paul Schilling during the Falcons’ 23-7 win against Arcadia on Friday.
“I thought we played our best game,” Schilling said. “We had some trouble with our offense throughout the season and decided to bring up Gadsby.
“He threw it five times against Hoover and then 36 times against Arcadia. We hadn’t seen that many passes thrown combined in all of our previous games. Brian was composed and now as coaches we feel a little dumb waiting until the ninth and 10th weeks of the season to play him.”
Gadsby completed 21 of 36 passes for 204 yards and rushed for a touchdown against Arcadia.
Crescenta Valley finished 5-5, 3-4 in league to tie for fourth place with Burroughs.
