Glendale college football has same road ahead in 2013

While the members of the Glendale Community College football team certainly aren’t looking to duplicate their fortunes of 2012, they will most assuredly have familiarity on their sides in 2013.

The Vaqueros will play the same teams they competed against last season, when they went 2-8 and 0-7 in the Pacific Conference’s American Division. There’s one exception, as the sites will rotate.

Glendale will play its five home games at Sartoris Field, including three conference games. Three of its first four games will be at home, beginning at 6 p.m. Sept. 7 with a nonconference battle against Compton.

Glendale college Coach John Rome would like to see the Vaqueros begin a winning tradition at home.

“We’ve had a tough time winning at home lately,” said Rome, whose team went 0-5 at home last season. “Hopefully, we will get some better results and make it a more pleasant experience.

“We like the idea that we are beginning the season at home. We think we can succeed at home because we have a lot of returners and some more depth than we’ve had the last couple of seasons.”

The Vaqueros posted a 27-10 win against the Tartars last season.

“That will be a good test for us coming right out of the shoot,” Rome said. “It’s the first week of the season and you have guys on both teams trying to prove themselves.

“Compton should be improved and they have a new coach, so they might change some different things up.”

The Vaqueros will then hit the road for a nonconference game at 6 p.m. Sept. 14 against San Bernardino Valley, which cruised to a 35-0 win against the Vaqueros last season.

Rome said San Bernardino Valley plays a similar type game to some of the teams in Glendale’s division.

“It’s going to be a physical game and a great matchup to help prepare you [for the division],” Rome said. “That’s a great area for football and you know they will play hard all of the time.”

Glendale will then conclude nonconference play with a home game against San Diego Mesa at 6 p.m. Sept. 21. The Vaqueros recorded a 31-19 road win last year against San Diego Mesa before ending the season on a seven-game losing streak, all in the division.

Rome said the Vaqueros at least won’t have to make the journey to San Diego this season.

“That’s a real long trip to take, so we are glad they are coming here this time around,” Rome said. “They have a first-class coach in Henry Browne and he has his team always ready, so it should be a great test before heading into conference. They like to typically run a pro-style offense.”

The Vaqueros will then kick off the divisional portion of their schedule with a home game against Antelope Valley at 6 p.m. Sept. 28. Antelope Valley registered a 24-12 home win against Glendale last season.

Glendale and Antelope Valley were involved in a tight battle in last season’s meeting before Antelope Valley pulled away in the second half.

“It’s your division opener and you try to go out there and set the tone,” Rome said. “We had a good game against them last year and we are expecting the same thing again.

“When you play them, you know it’s going to be a good physical game.”

Things don’t expect to get any easier for the Vaqueros, who will then meet Santa Monica in a division road game at 1 p.m. Oct. 5.

Santa Monica has won the last two division championships, but received a stiff test from Glendale last season. Santa Monica earned a 35-32 road victory last season.

“You always look forward to playing that game,” Rome said. “We had a good chance to beat them last year and we’ve played them pretty tough in recent years.”

The Santa Monica contest will mark the halfway point of the season.

The Vaqueros will have their bye Oct. 12, giving players a chance to recover from injuries and regroup for the second half of the campaign.

“The bye comes at the perfect time of the season,” Rome said. “You are going to have a lot of guys banged up and who need some time to recover.

“It gives us a chance to see where we are at physically.”

The Vaqueros will then resume play with a division road game against West L.A. at 1 p.m. Oct. 19.

“That’s going to be yet another tough game,” Rome said. “They’ve always had that speed that’s always given us fits, so we know we will have to be ready for that speed again.”

Glendale will then play two division home games in a row against L.A. Southwest and L.A. Valley. Both games will begin at 1 p.m.

The Vaqueros suffered a 13-0 road loss against L.A. Southwest before falling, 57-18, to L.A. Valley on the road.

“With Southwest, we seem to match up well with them the last few years,” Rome said. “There have been some close games between the two teams lately.

“When you play Valley, you know that is always going to be a good test. They can do quite a few things well.”

Glendale, which is 4-26 over the last three seasons, will then finish up the regular season with a pair of division road contests.

It will start with Glendale making its longest road trip of the season to Santa Barbara at 6 p.m. Nov. 9.

“It’s the farthest we have to go, but I certainly don’t mind going up there to play because it’s always a great environment,” said Rome, whose team suffered a 36-18 loss last season to Santa Barbara. “They always seem to have some good teams.”

The season finale for the Vaqueros will be at 7 p.m. Nov. 16 against L.A. Pierce, which earned a 26-22 road win last season against Glendale.

“It’s always exciting to go over there and play them,” Rome said. “We plan to be able to hang in there with them.

“Overall, I like our schedule a lot. There’s some good competitive balance. We think that we can be competitive.”