Air Attack Loses Ground for Glendale

When a football team is behind by a couple of touchdowns it has a tendency to throw the ball more than it would like.

Last Friday, Glendale High found itself in that predicament. Trailing, 14-0, with 30 seconds left in the first half, Glendale quarterback Rich Callister hit tight end Rod Cassidy for a 13-yard touchdown.

Glendale kept passing. In fact, Callister threw 35 times against the Bulldogs. But he could only complete 15, and Burbank (3-2) eventually won, 21-6. Cassidy, Callister’s primary target, caught eight passes for 62 yards, including the touchdown.

Burbank’s Gabe Jimenez rushed for a touchdown and caught two scoring passes.

An uphill season: Area high school teams continued to run up big numbers in the loss column, but do any of them have a tougher schedule than St. Francis?

The Golden Knights (1-4) will meet defending Big 5 champion Crespi (4-0-1) at 7:30 Friday night at Crespi. St. Francis also will face Big 5 finalist St. John Bosco, undefeated Loyola, which is ranked No. 4 by The Times, and upstart Alemany. So far, the Golden Knights have defeated Pasadena but have lost to Burroughs, Bishop Amat, Damien and Muir.

Vaqueros’ victory: Glendale College ended its five-game losing streak Saturday with a 24-14 win over Western State Conference foe Hancock.

It appears as if the Vaqueros (1-4, 1-1) have coaxed their running game back on track. Gene Harlin, who was hampered earlier this season because of a dislocated finger, and Donnel Pumphrey combined for 236 yards rushing, all but five of the team’s total on the ground. Harlin scored two touchdowns, one on an 80-yard run, and Pumphrey scored on a 1-yard gain.

Games to watch: On Friday at 7:30 p.m., Crescenta Valley plays at Glendale, Hoover plays Muir at Pasadena City College and La Canada plays at San Marino.

On Friday at 8 p.m., Franklin plays at Taft, Eagle Rock plays at Huntington Park, Marshall plays at Bell and Verdugo Hills plays at Van Nuys.

On Saturday, Pater Noster plays Bell-Jeff at Burroughs High at 1:45 p.m.

Glendale College will play host to Ventura on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Occidental College, which had a bye last week, will resume play Saturday at Azusa Pacific at 1:30 p.m.