Crescenta Valley football sputters into postseason with loss to archrival Arcadia
- Share via
GLENDALE — Aspirations of a Pacific League title and a lengthy CIF Southern Section Division VI playoff run danced through the heads of those within the Crescenta Valley High football program and were prognosticated by many prior to the season.
However, the Falcons have fallen flat and fallen to defeat in two of their final three games of the regular season.
So after Crescenta Valley lost a Pacific League nailbiter Thursday evening to archrival Arcadia, 22-16, at Glendale High’s Moyse Field, the Falcons are left with the sting of a bitter loss and question marks about the playoffs ahead.
“When we played [and defeated] Barron Collier and Golden Valley [in the first two games of the season], I thought we were a really good team. We just stepped back,” Falcons coach Paul Schilling said. “I don’t know what it is, but we have to get better if we want to do anything in the playoffs.”
Crescenta Valley (8-2, 5-2 in league), ranked third in Division VI, will finish third in league, with Burbank, which defeated the Falcons two games prior, having wrapped up at least a share of the league title. Arcadia (7-3, 6-1), No. 3 in Division XI, could win a share of the title with a Burbank loss, but the Apaches were ecstatic at ending their five-game losing streak against the Falcons as many of the players celebrated wildly just a few yards from the dejected Falcons, some of them ripping their helmets off and taunting.
For Arcadia coach Andrew Policky, who previously coached at Hoover, the victory was a long time coming.
“It feels good,” said Policky, who was previously 0 for six against the Falcons before Thursday. “It’s my first time getting them. It feels great.”
Arcadia scored the game-winning touchdown with just 32 seconds left when quarterback Max Davila hit Frankie Contreras across the middle for an 18-yard score.
It was the third and final time in which the Apaches answered a Falcons’ score with a touchdown on the ensuing drive.
However, the biggest play of the drive was likely a 54-yard completion on fourth and 16 from Davila to Alex Kelliher, who hadn’t even been targeted in the game until that play.
“It was just a miraculous play on fourth and 16 on a busted coverage, I think,” Policky said. “I’ll take it.”
Crescenta Valley scored on its opening drive via a Joe Suh six-yard rushing touchdown, but its offense stalled thereafter for the most part as Arcadia’s defense packed the box all game.
Both teams scored on their opening drives and the game was tied at 7 until early in the fourth quarter when Falcons receiver Angel Ochoa let fly on an option pass that hit receiver Jordan Nelson (four catches for 108 yards) for a 48-yard touchdown with 11:51 to go in the game. However, the ensuing point-after snap was botched and the Falcons only led, 13-7.
Just as they did in the first quarter, the Apaches responded with a touchdown on the ensuing drive.
Arcadia running back Austin Guerra (18 carries for 172 yards) busted a 59-yard touchdown run in the first quarter to lead to a tied ballgame, but in the fourth it was a big run from Davila that put the Apaches ahead. Davila ran for 54 yards to the CV one-yard line before a one-yard sneak tied the game and the ensuing point-after touchdown put Arcadia up, 14-13.
With 6:29 to go in the game, Crescenta Valley took over and marched for the go-ahead score from its 15-yard line.
Quarterback Cole Doyle (10 of 20 passing for 157 yards and an interception, 16 carries for 61 yards) ran and passed his team downfield, but the Falcons stalled at the 16. Kicker Chris Wood booted a 26-yard field goal for the go-ahead score with 1:49 to play and the Falcons leading 16-14.
“It was a pressure kick and he drilled it,” Schilling said.
But it was too much time, thanks to a “miraculous” fourth and 16 play.
Suh ran 16 times for 63 yards, but 42 of them came on the first drive as the Falcons totaled just 333 yards of offense and only 114 in the first half, though the CV defense held Arcadia to 92 first-half yards (381 total).
Doyle hit Suh on a fake field goal for what looked like a 24-yard score right before halftime, but the played was disallowed and resulted in an unsportsmanlike penalty as the referees called it “deception,” as Suh, on the sideline play, was facing the sideline.
Following the Apaches’ game-winning score, Crescenta Valley took over with no timeouts at its 27-yard line with 27 seconds left. Doyle completed a pair of passes to get the Falcons to the Arcadia 40, but his final pass fell out of bounds to the right of the end zone as time expired.
Now the Falcons will wait for Sunday and the CIF playoff pairings and thereafter whether or not they can still fulfill some of their preseason aspirations in the postseason or if time will run out as it did on Thursday.
Twitter: @TCNGrantGordon
