Crescenta Valley Wins 1st Game in 8 Attempts Against Rival Pasadena

Crescenta Valley High Coach Jim Beckenhauer said that he had but one choice in his game plan with his team trailing by four points early in the fourth quarter Thursday night and deep in its own territory.

Pass, pass, and pass some more.

So quarterback Ryan Kadletz did. A 6-foot-2, 171-pound senior, Kadletz completed all six of his attempts on the drive and, although two completions were erased by penalties, marched the Falcons 79 yards for the go-ahead score with 6:58 left in a Pacific League game at Glendale High that Crescenta Valley eventually won, 17-13.

The win was Crescenta Valley’s first over Pasadena since 1981. Crescenta Valley (5-1, 2-0) also won its fifth consecutive game for the first time since 1976.

Kadletz--who was 11 of 19 for 145 yards--hit Aaron Erickson (four receptions for 72 yards) three times on the drive for 60 yards, including a 33-yard touchdown pass that Pasadena’s Demesh Cobb tipped and Erickson caught as he fell on his back in the end zone. Kadletz ran for the two-point conversion.

“We were backed into a corner and all we could do was pass,” Beckenhauer said. “We had no other choice.”

It proved to be the best choice too. The Falcons struggled with their passing game most of the evening; Kadletz had thrown for only 66 yards until the winning drive.

“We wanted to throw more in the second half, but things didn’t go right,” Beckenhauer said.

That also could describe much of Crescenta Valley’s first half.

Crescenta Valley stuffed Pasadena’s first drive at the Pasadena eight and, after a shanked punt, took over at the 26.

Seven plays later, Javier Pimentel scored from one yard to give Crescenta Valley a 6-0 lead with 6:11 left in the first quarter.

Pasadena (1-5-1, 1-1) answered 53 seconds later when Mario Gulley ran 77 yards for a score. Kevin South’s point-after gave the Bulldogs a 7-6 lead with 5:18 to play in the first quarter.

Pasadena took a 13-6 halftime lead on Jhayson Hall’s two-yard run with 4:54 to play in the first half. But that would be the last time Pasadena would score.

Crescenta Valley’s Damon Martin kicked a 37-yard field goal to pull the Falcons within 13-9 in the third quarter, then the defense rose up to stop the Bulldogs. Pasadena was held to 97 second-half yards as Crescenta Valley shut down a potent running attack that had gained 174 first-half yards.

Hall finished with a game-high 121 yards in 20 carries.

“We knew they were going to pound it out against us,” Beckenhauer said. “They have a good running game.”

But it wasn’t good enough, and Pasadena was forced to resort to its passing game--which netted only 31 yards. Quarterback Stacy Townsend completed only four of nine.

And, when Pasadena needed to drive 80 yards for a go-ahead score late in the fourth quarter, Crescenta Valley’s Colby Bogust took over. Bogust, a 5-11, 164-pound senior, tackled Townsend for consecutive losses and pressured Townsend into a hurried pass that fell incomplete on third down.

Pasadena had the ball with 16 seconds left, but Ernie Diaz intercepted Townsend’s final pass.