Nitros fall in Eberhart’s debut

LOS ANGELES — It’s hard to sugarcoat a 52-13 loss under any circumstances, but Coach Alan Eberhart knows that fattening up on cupcakes in nonleague play won’t help his Glendale High football team much when the Pacific League season begins.

A feel-good win over an inferior opponent to kick off the season wasn’t an option for the Nitros this year, as they instead got a polished, athletic Cathedral squad that entered Friday’s game at Cathedral ranked ninth in the CIF Southern Section Northwest Division. Indeed, for the unranked Nitros, who went 6-4 a year ago, nothing felt good about a game in which they trailed by 38 points midway through the first half, but Eberhart had a different take.

“This is good for us,” said the veteran coach and Glendale High graduate, who made his return to head coaching after last leading Crescenta Valley during the 2006 season. “We played a really good football team and did the best we could with what we had. I think that’s a good learning experience for our kids.

“I want to play good guys. I want to get a good football program and to play good, tough games and we started out that way.”

Turnovers and errors on special teams hurt the Nitros from the beginning and made it impossible to keep pace with Cathedral’s offense, which totaled 411 yards for the game and found the end zone on a 65-yard, five-play drive on the first possession of the game to take a 7-0 lead 2:15 into the first quarter.

Glendale’s first possession ended in a punt attempt gone wrong, with the Phantoms (2-0) recovering a fumble of the snap at the Nitros’ 27-yard line.

Glendale’s Alejandro Maravilla came up with an interception of Cathedral’s Trevor Olson (13 for 22 for 253 yards and five touchdowns) at the Nitros’ eight-yard line to stop the Phantoms’ ensuing drive, but Glendale turned the ball right back over on a fumble two plays later.

This time Cathedral used a short field to travel 16 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead on an Olson pass to Kyle Merrill at the 5:47 mark of the first quarter.