Football Preview: New-look Crescenta Valley begins next chapter with Gossard in charge
It’s been customary for Hudson Gossard’s days to be extremely busy.
There’s been paperwork, player physicals, scheduling and much more that has needed to be handled by Gossard, a former All-CIF Southern Section quarterback at Crescenta Valley who served as an assistant for the past 11 seasons before landing the head coaching job at his alma mater in December.
Yet, Gossard has found time to engineer practices and whip his players into shape leading up to Crescenta Valley’s season-opening contest against visiting Santa Fe at 7 p.m. Friday at Glendale High’s Moyse Field.
“I’ve been putting in a lot of 12-hour days and about two of them are spent on coaching,” said Gossard, who takes over for Paul Schilling after the former coach decided to step down and oversee the Falcons’ lower-level squads. “We have three levels and about 120 or so total players, so there are a lot of moving parts involved.
“It’s very exciting to be the head coach and keep the tradition going at CV. I know a lot about the program and I’ve been around it for such a very long time. I have a chance to make something happen and I’m excited and grateful for the opportunity.”
Crescenta Valley finished 8-3, 5-2 in the Pacific League for third place behind Arcadia and Burbank in 2018. Crescenta Valley lost, 52-47, to host Warren in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division VII playoffs. The Falcons, who were moved to Division X, from Division VII, after the CIF Southern Section office realigned the divisions in May, have lost four straight postseason games since winning the Southeast Division championship in 2014 under Schilling.
One thing working in Gossard’s favor is the familiarity with his current group of players and assistantcoaches.
“We want to rack up some playoff wins and try to win another championship,” said Gossard, who passed for 3,542 yards, 32 touchdowns and a 68.4% completion ratio during the 2001 season. “We have a lot of returning players and I know them, so that will help.
“We will look to play with grit and we have a lot of senior leadership. There’s also the ability of guys holding each other accountable.”
Crescenta Valley lost standout quarterback Cole Doyle to graduation after the All-CIF and league offensive player of the year registered 3,469 total yards of offense and 39 touchdowns in only nine games. Doyle completed 149 of 239 passes for 2,067 yards. He had 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions and completed 62.3% of his passes.
Looking to succeed Doyle are senior Chase Center and junior Brendon Pehar.
“Cole was such an amazing quarterback and overall athlete and he was fun to work with,” Gossard said. “Now there’s a battle for the quarterback job and we’ll see how it goes between Chase and Brendon.
“We have three nonleague games and we’ll look to see how they do during those games so that we likely have a better idea who will start once league play begins.”
The running backs are seniors James Cho and Maximus Grant, along with junior Sebastian DeLeon.
The receivers are expected to be seniors David Baek, Angel Ochoa, Vincent Parrott, Colby Rees, DeLeon and sophomore PJ Weinmann.
Rees had 30 catches for 539 yards and four touchdowns last season en route to being named to the all-league team. Ochoa finished with 27 passes for 307 yards and three touchdowns to pick up all-league honors.
“We definitely have a lot of experience on offense and there will be a lot of options,” Rees said. “Many of our guys have played together for at least two or three years.
“We think we can contend for league and we have a bitter taste after losing [league games] to Arcadia and Burbank and in the first round of the playoffs.”
The projected offensive line will be seniors Armen Erdoglyan, Benny Herrera, Lou Ibarra Rocco, Chuck Meyer and Donny Stuart. Meyer and Stuart were bestowed with all-league nods last season.
On defense, the Falcons will project a line of seniors Manny Carrasco, Valentin Nunez, Shant Madatyan, Logan Tourville and Jaden Haas and DeLeon. DeLeon collected 76 tackles and five sacks last season and was named to the all-league squad.
The secondary will likely consist of seniors Aaron Garcia, Ochoa, Parrott and Rees, Weinmann and sophomore Zeal Shumate. Parrott registered 29 tackles and two interceptions to secure an all-league selection last season.
Said Ochoa: “I think our defense can be a strong point. There’s plenty of experience. We trust each other and we all communicate well.”
Crescenta Valley will look to win its first league championship since 2016. Arcadia won the league crown last season and Burbank took second.
Crescenta Valley will start league Sept. 19 at Pasadena and will close out the regular season Oct. 31 against visiting Arcadia.
“I don’t really know that much about our league at this point,” Gossard said. “You just never know until you put the pads and helmets on, but you know you can’t afford to take anybody lightly.
“I have no idea who the league favorite is and I don’t care. We have a pretty tight group and we know that winning league is definitely one of our goals.”
