Falcons for all seasons

GLENDALE — This is the eighth and final edition in which the News-Press looks back at the area's 2009-10 seasons, school by school, before looking ahead at the year to come.

No matter the sport, no matter the season, whether it was girls or boys, on the golf course or the basketball court, the football field or the softball diamond, Crescenta Valley High athletics found success.

It is a notion backed by the amazing fact that every single sport was in someway represented in the CIF postseason.

Pacific League titles were won, CIF success was had.

There were individual accolades by the likes of Michael Timpson and Melanie Samvalian and team triumph from the likes of the girls' basketball and soccer teams, just to name a few.

But the biggest success was found in the pool.

Both the girls' and boys' water polo teams won Pacific League titles with dominant undefeated runs, before advancing to the CIF quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. Just the same, both the boys and girls won league crowns in swimming, but it was the boys — bolstered by freshman phenom Young Tae Seo, who would break league records and win CIF and Masters Meet titles — who forged ahead to a stellar second-place finish a the CIF championships.

For Falcons athletics as a whole, it was a season to remember. What follows is just a sampling of the many highlights:

•Sept. 11, 2009 — Just 55 seconds into the season, Crescenta Valley linebacker Kevin Rignot picks up a Verdugo Hills fumble and strides 26 yards for the first score in a 48-8 nonleague thumping for the Falcons. Harry Pessy adds three total touchdowns, including a 90-yard kick return.

•Sept. 22, 2009 — In a Pacific League match, the girls' golf team, which sees Katie Park shoot a three-over-par 40, Amy Park card a 48 and Sally Chun notch a 49, falls to fourth place, a spot in will remain in for the rest of the season.

Off to a sluggish 2-4 start, the boys' water polo team, which won a CIF title the year prior, bounces back against Pasadena Poly with an 11-9 win as Alan Dearman scores six goals and Matt Peters adds two scores, four steals and three assists.