“It’s always gonna be a tough game with Poly, which is why we schedule them,” said Falcons Coach Jan Sakonju, the reigning News-Press Coach of the Year, whose team improved to 3-4. “It’s the best we’ve played this season as a team.
“We played extremely well as a team.”
Peters notched the go-ahead score with 2:30 remaining in the match on a five-meter shot, but later missed a lob in a one-on-one that would’ve likely salted the match away. However, he came up clutch in the waning seconds, finding Dearman for the match-clinching goal with only eight seconds left. The possession had seen the shot clock dwindle to 10 seconds before the Falcons drew a kickout, resulting in a new shot clock that allowed Crescenta Valley to essentially run out the game clock before Dearman scored.
“It felt really good,” said Dearman of the win. “We actually have been struggling [playing as a team]. Today seemed like it came together really well.”
In the end, but there were definitely some rough spots — or Poly (4-4) highlights pending on the vantage point of a boisterous crowd at PCC.
“We still had some hiccups,” Sakonju said. “We gave up some easy goals.”
Daniel Olson, who also had three steals, scored the match’s first goal and the Falcons had a 1-0 lead for much of the first quarter. But with 3:15 left in the opening period, Poly’s Nick Grover, who had three goals, converted a two-on-one to tie the match before Henry Pray, who had six goals, scored on a one-on-one to continue a five-goal Poly run.
Held scoreless for roughly eight minutes and down, 5-1, the Falcons offense suddenly ignited.
