Falcons come out in full force

SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — The Crescenta Valley High football team knew it could score plenty of points against Hoover on Friday. The Falcons just weren’t sure if they could stop the Tornadoes’ offensive attack.

Fortunately for Crescenta Valley, it didn’t have to play much defense.

The Falcons dominated the possession battle, burned clock and scored at ease throughout the opening half.

Crescenta Valley controlled the ball for more than 18 minutes of the half en route to building a 33-point halftime lead in a 62-28 Pacific League victory at Moyse Field.

“They never had the ball, which is good for us, because we were scared to death of their offense,” Crescenta Valley Coach Paul Schilling said. “We got the early breaks, and from the past, we saw them think, ‘oh here we go again,’ when we started scoring.

“We knew just by looking at film of them that we could score.”

The Falcons (4-1, 2-0 in league) scored 41 points in the first half, taking advantage of superb field position and a balanced offense.

Crescenta Valley’s average starting field position was its own 47-yard line in the first half. Mark Sereno started the scoring for the Falcons with a 17-yard touchdown run, the first of his two of the quarter, with the other coming on a four-yard run that gave the Falcons a 20-0 lead.

All but one of the Falcons’ scores came on the ground, as Marro Lee (five yards), Sean Johnson (two yards), and Zac Wilkerson, Paul Perigini, Josh Lacey, and Sabarrish Mohan (one yard each) also had rushing touchdowns. Their other score was a 35-yard interception return for a score by Michael Brown in the third quarter.

“We just wanted to control the ball because we knew our offense could take care of business,” Wilkerson said. “We wanted to just be smart and execute.”

Hoover Coach Chris Long just wanted his defense to make a stop.

“Our defense stayed on the field too long,” said Long, whose team fell to 1-4, 0-2. “We haven’t stopped anybody all year. We couldn’t get the offense on the field. The offense didn’t have enough time.”

Quarterback A.J. Pule carried the Tornadoes again, rushing for a pair of touchdowns and throwing two 80-yard scoring strikes to Dymond McRae. All but one of the Tornadoes’ scores came in the second half.

“I wish all of those [scores] happened in the first half,” Long said.