YMCA QB Club open for business

SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — The Glendale YMCA Quarterback Club, in its 68th year, meets Tuesdays at the Elk’s Lodge. The following are odds and ends from the first meeting of the year.

BOULEVARD BATTLE

COMING SOON

The annual “Battle of Foothill Boulevard” contest between St. Francis High and Crescenta Valley will take place at 7 p.m. Friday at Glendale High’s Moyse Field. Crescenta Valley Coach Paul Schilling and St. Francis Coach Jim Bonds have already begun making preparations for a game that the Golden Knights have won eight consecutive times.

The players come and go, but Schilling and Bonds said the ambiance of the game brings out the best in the community.

“When you play CV, you just throw everything out because it’s always going to be a dogfight,” said Bonds, whose team earned a 28-21 win at home last season. “I don’t expect anything different and it’s a great community game to come out and watch.”

Schilling, who took over the program from Tony Zarrillo, will experience first hand what it will be like to be a part of the rivalry while patrolling the sidelines as head coach. He’s seen it most recently as the defensive coordinator for the Falcons the past several seasons, in which the Falcons had the arduous task of finding a way to contain standouts Dietrich Riley and Justin Posthuma, who have since graduated and are now at UCLA.

“They are a really good football team and we have had some nightmares about Dietrich the last [three] years,” Schilling said. “Now, they have more guys to worry about.

“[Left tackle] Patrick Carroll is unbelievable. I saw the film from St. Francis’ game against Arcadia last week and he absolutely just destroys guys. We will probably have a defensive line by committee against him. It’s one of the most exciting games of the year in the area.”

EBERHART REFLECTS

ON FIRST GAME

Glendale second-year Coach Alan Eberhart and his 28-member team have loftier expectations for this season. The Nitros went 1-9 and 0-7 in the Pacific League last season, leaving Eberhart and his assistants to reevaluate how to make the Nitros a more well-rounded opponent.

Glendale opened its season Friday with a 21-10 nonleague home loss against Cathedral and Eberhart saw some progress.

“We know we needed to start over,” Eberhart said. “We put them through some tough workouts during the spring and summer.

“The 28 players we have try to listen and get after it. Going into the Cathedral game, we took the approach of let’s see how much we have improved. Late in the game, we are down, 14-7, and we are driving and moving the ball. We think we could win and we get down to their 24-yard line and fumble. We hoped that one more good thing would drop in our lap, but it didn’t.

“The feeling that we now have on our sideline was absent last year. We are talking about winning.”

The Nitros will take part in another nonleague game at 7 p.m. Friday at La Cañada.

PLENTY GOING ON

IN MISSION LEAGUE

For years, the Mission League has been regarded as one of the toughest in Southern California. Many teams have earned top-10 rankings on a weekly basis by CIF and some have gone on to play in division championship contests.

The league featured four teams the past four seasons, including St. Francis. Things are now vastly different among the league’s landscape with six teams on board in St. Francis, Chaminade, St. Paul, Harvard-Westlake, Cathedral and Gardena Serra. Serra captured a CIF and state championship last season and is currently ranked No. 1 in the Western Division, with Chaminade at No. 2 and St. Francis fourth.

Alemany moved out of the league after winning it last season.

“We have had a change up in our league,” Bonds said. “I’m happy to see Alemany moving up to Division I and the reward is now we have Serra in our league.

“It didn’t get any easier.”