Edgar Melik-Stepanyan
SOUTHEAST GLENDALE -- Crescenta Valley High football player Dan
Moody's performance against Pacific League rival Glendale was simply
awesome.
The senior receiver put on an exhibition of his athletic ability,
shredding through a soft Nitro defense and creeping in the secondary to
disrupt an inconsistent passing scheme.
Moody, who played sparingly last season behind News-Press All-Area
Player of the Year Jason Hogan, continued to flourish in a
straight-forward Falcon passing game that allows him to use most of his
creativity off of short shovel passes.
He amassed a career-high 173 passing yards, hauled in 12 passes and
caught three touchdown passes to lead CV to a 42-14 league victory Friday
at Glendale High's Moyse Field.
Falcon quarterback Hudson Gossard has been greatly acknowledged for
his passing yards and touchdown passes.
But it is his wide outs that do most of the extra work, racking up
plenty of yards after the catch, making Gossard look good.
Moody supported the fact, scoring all three of his offensive
touchdowns after he caught the ball at the line of scrimmage.
His final score was one for the highlight reel. After he intercepted
Nitro quarterback Joe Hanna for the second time inside CV's 30-yard line
and returned it to the 21-yard marker, Moody dazzled with his speed.
He craddled a short pass from Gossard, briefly stopped in front of
numerous Glendale defenders and turned around the corner, burst into high
gear and high-stepped into the end zone for a 28-14 CV lead with 9:21
left in the game.
On the next Nitro offensive series, CV (8-0, 2-0 in league) again shut
down Glendale's ground game, forcing a three-and-out.
Moody took Kevin Hickcox's punt from his own 40-yard line and returned
it for his 10th touchdown in eight games.
"He was awesome," CV Coach Alan Eberhart said. "He's a guy we're going
to have to go to. You have to have a great athlete in your system to do
what you do."
Gossard threw for a career-high 430 yards and completed 26 of 36
passes.
Glendale -- which used a steady, ball-control offense and was helped
by the Falcons' 195 penalty yards to trail by just seven entering the
fourth quarter -- excuted a decent plan to stay close with CV.
But in the end, the Falcons' defense clamped down on Glendale (2-6,
0-3 in league), limiting the Nitros to just 165 total offensive yards.
Nitro running back Paul Rodriguez gained 82 rushing yards in eight
carries.
