SPORTS NOTEBOOK: Not your average Friday night
The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene.
TOPSY TURVY TIMES
IN PACIFIC LEAGUE
Friday night wasn’t your average night for local football.
With its nailbiting 33-28 victory over South Pasadena High, Hoover began its season at 2-0 for the first time since 2005.
But you have to go back even farther for a night like Friday night, as, in addition to Glendale Coach John Tuttle notching his first win as Nitros coach, Glendale’s 21-3 win over La Canada saw Glendale and Hoover win on the same week for the first time since 2002. Back then, on Oct. 3 and 4, Glendale defeated Mark Keppel and Hoover beat El Monte.
Making Friday all the more notable was the fact that Hoover and Glendale were the only teams out of the Pacific League to earn victories, with Burbank on a bye and the other five teams in the league earning losses.
Glendale (1-1) and Hoover look to continue their winning ways this week, with the Tornadoes hosting Temple City on Thursday at Moyse Field, while Glendale travels to face South Pasadena on Friday. A Tornadoes win would improve them to 3-0 for the first time since 1958. Should the Nitros win, they would have back-to-back victories for the first time since 2008.
SCARY, BUT VICTORIOUS
OPENER FOR REID
It wasn’t pretty, but it was a victory nonetheless for the Philadelphia Eagles and coach Andy Reid, as they opened up their 2012 season on Sunday with a 17-16 win on the road against the Cleveland Browns.
The Eagles committed 12 penalties for 110 yards, had four turnovers and Reid’s playcalling drew the ire of some sports writers, as quarterback Michael Vick threw the ball 56 times, while the running game, which saw Vick carry the ball seven times, saw just 30 team carries.
Reid, a former Glendale Community College offensive lineman, chose to look at the positives of his team rallying late to nab the win.
“We did enough negative things to where it’s tough to win a game,” Reid said after the game Sunday. “We kept battling, and good things happened. There are going to be games like this in this league that are close … You’re going to have games like this; you have to battle through and have intestinal fortitude enough to keep fighting and they did that.”
Philadelphia, which is trying to overcome a disastrous 8-8 season a year ago in which it underwhelmed despite a huge list of big-money free agents, hosts the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
QUARTERBACK CLUB
SET TO OPEN
The Glendale YMCA Quarterback Club will kick off its 70th year on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. at The Elk’s Lodge, 120 E. Colorado Blvd., Glendale.
Scheduled to be the guest speaker is Kevin Danni, a survivor of the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. Danni is also a former St. Francis football player and is a past president of the Quarterback Club.
The club is geared to support the Crescenta Valley, Glendale, Hoover and St. Francis high football teams and the Glendale Community College football program.
Lunch is $17 at the door and a yearly club membership is $50.
LOCAL TEAMS EARN
CIF RANKINGS
Six local high school teams have earned CIF Southern Section rankings, which were released Monday.
The St. Francis football team, by virtue of its 29-22 nonleague road victory against Righetti on Friday, is ranked fourth in the Western Division. The Golden Knights (2-0) are one of four Mission League teams ranked, joining Gardena Serra (first), Chaminade (third) and Harvard-Westlake (eighth).
The Glendale and Crescenta Valley boys’ water polo squads are ranked third and fifth, respectively, in Division V.
The Flintridge Prep boys’ cross-country team is ranked second in Division V. The Crescenta Valley and Flintridge Prep girls’ cross-country teams are ranked sixth and third, respectively, in divisions I and V.