Falcons, Nitros seeking second wins
GLENDALE — The following are CIF playoff previews pertaining to area high school teams.
BOYS’ WATER POLO
Crescenta Valley vs. Palm Springs at Palm Springs Swim Center, 3:15 p.m. today: The top-seeded Falcons began their playoff journey Wednesday with an 18-1 victory against Los Altos in a CIF Southern Section Division V first-round match at Pasadena City College. Alan Dearman paced the Falcons (24-4) with five first-half goals.
Now the Falcons, who won the Pacific League championship, will make a 120-mile trip to Palm Springs for their quarterfinal match. Palm Springs, which finished second in the Desert Valley League behind Palm Desert, opened Wednesday with a 20-8 win against Milken Community. The Indians, who got four goals each from Tucker Tashjian, P.J. Redmon and Tim Breitfeller, improved to 22-7.
“We didn’t play Palm Springs during the season, so we don’t know too much about them,” said Crescenta Valley’s Louis Wojciechowski, who contributed three goals against Los Altos. “We just have to play our game.”
The winner of the Crescenta Valley-Palm Springs match will face fourth-seeded Pasadena Poly or Walnut in a semifinal match at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Mount San Antonio College.
La Serna vs. Glendale at Burbank High, 3:15 p.m. today: Glendale started of its Division V playoff run with a 10-9 win against Chadwick on Wednesday at Burbank High. The Nitros, who took second in the Pacific League behind Crescenta Valley, got a goal from Martin Narinyan with 15 seconds left to turn back the Dolphins.
The Nitros (17-7) figure to face another tough task in taking on second-seeded La Serna (18-5) in a quarterfinal match. La Serna, which captured the Del Rio League crown, got eight goals from Aaron Valdes to post a 17-6 win against La Quinta La Quinta on Wednesday in La Mirada.
Glendale and La Serna didn’t meet during the regular season, but Glendale second-year Coach Forest Holbrook said he’s received scouting reports from Crescenta Valley High Coach Jan Sakonju and Hoover Coach Ara Oganesyan on the Lancers.
“We have a pretty good idea about their offense and the matchups that we want,” Holbrook said. “We’ve been scrapping for goals [since Gor Asryan was suspended for the season], so we have to focus on defense.
“I thought we played solid defense in the second half against Chadwick.”
The Glendale-La Serna will take on third-seeded Bonita or Palm Desert in a semifinal match at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Mount San Antonio College.
