Short-handed Hoover still wins

Hamlet Nalbandyan

NORTHWEST GLENDALE -- Rob Swartz finally got the win that had eluded

him in his two-plus years as a coach at Hoover High, but it’s not how he

imagined it.

The Tornado football coach -- who is 0-19-1 in his two years at the

helm -- was coaching another brand of football Tuesday at Hoover High. It

was more like o7 futbolf7 , but Swartz might have found his new

calling.

As the person in charge of the Hoover boys’ soccer team, Swartz not

only ended o7 hisf7 losing curse, but that of the Tornadoes, who beat

archrival Glendale, 2-1, in a Pacific League match.

OK, so he didn’t do much coaching, leaving those duties to junior

varsity coach Nestor Sala, but the Tornadoes (5-10-2, 1-4 in league)

could have used anything.

In Friday’s match against Muir -- a 4-1 loss in a contest that was

stopped 15 minutes early -- the Tornadoes’ head coach, assistant coach,

starting goalkeeper and starting defender all received red cards.

For those not familiar with CIF rules, that means Mark Rubio, Bedros

Pogosyan, Rogelio Gonzalez and John Rodriguez had to miss Tuesday’s

match. Making matters more difficult, Hoover’s second-best player,

Agustin Park, also did not play because of disciplinary reasons.

Maybe that’s why the Tornadoes were so excited to beat Glendale (5-8,

1-4).

“I guess this is BGD [Beat Glendale Day] for soccer,” said Swartz, who

described himself as the interim coach for Tuesday. “I’m happy for the

kids. They played well.”

This all might sound like a light-hearted affair, but nothing was

funny for the Nitros.

The loss basically ends any legitimate chance of Glendale finishing

among the top three in league, which is a bitter pill to swallow for

Hector Garay and company, especially after Glendale outplayed Hoover in

almost every facet of the match.

The Nitros outshot the Tornadoes, 16-7, and spent most of the 80

minutes on Hoover’s side of the field.

But the one player who could have made a difference in the match for

Hoover, did. Senior Argeen Nazarian single-handedly carried the offensive

torch, scoring both goals.

His first came on a bicycle kick in the 43rd minute that took several

bounces in front of Nitro goalkeeper Jose Flores before going over his

head into the net.

“I guess the Tornado winds were with us on that one,” said Hoover

defenseman Trevor Nelson.

Glendale tied things up two minutes later on Sid Karantonis’ header,

but Nazarian struck again in the 46th minute.

He received a nice pass from Ruben Baghoomian and planted a beautiful

left-footed shot past Flores for the eventual match-winner.

BOX SCORE

Glendale*0*1*--*1

Hoover*0*2*--*2

GLENDALE -- S. Karantonis (Haknasarian, 45th minute).

Saves: Flores 3.

HOOVER -- Nazarian (43rd minute), Nazarian (Baghoomian, 46th minute).

Saves: Oqueli 8.