GLENDALE — Time to dust off the school golf bags and break out the shiny clubs to make clutch tee shots onto the fairways and putts on the unpredictable greens.
With the season beginning this week and continuing into at least early May, the five area high school boys' golf teams appear ready.
Several storylines will sure to be followed during the next several months, starting with Crescenta Valley High attempting to win another league title.
There will also be a new landscape in the Pacific League this season with Burbank and Burroughs highs transferring over from the formidable Foothill League that features powerhouses Hart and Valencia. Burbank and Burroughs will look to knock off Crescenta Valley, which has won two consecutive league championships and appears primed for a third with the nucleus of its lineup returning.
Because of the new additions, the league will be broken down into two divisions.
Burbank, Burroughs and Arcadia will join Crescenta Valley in the A Division. Those teams will play four 18-hole matches and again in a league final.
Hoover and Glendale will be grouped with Muir and Pasadena in the B Division. Teams from each division will play the other once in a nine-hole match.
All eyes will once again focus on Crescenta Valley, which finished second to Arcadia in league from 1988-2004.
The Falcons will likely receive stiff competition throughout the league portion of their schedule, Crescenta Valley Coach John Pehar said.
"There are going to be some good teams in our league," Pehar said. "It's all mental now for us.
"I've got two more years left of a solid team. We have five or six No. 1-caliber golfers, and that's a great problem to have."
Pehar, who will begin his 10th season overseeing the program, isn't joking.
Bill Varsh, John Huh, Josh Ward, Justin Yu, Dominic Lingua and Preston Easley will return following a sturdy 21-win season in 2006. Ward, a junior, competed at the CIF Southern Section Boys' Golf Individual Championship at Canyon Country Club in Palm Springs last May and should be better in 2007.
St. Francis, which is piloted by Coach Jeff Durfee, finished second in the Mission League last season behind Loyola. Like Crescenta Valley, the Golden Knights will be expected to make a charge to the top of their league this season with several key athletes returning.
