Lee leads CV victory

"[La Cañada] comes out to play us every year, even when, on paper, we look like the better team," Schilling said. "This is a big game for them."

Coming into the second half down, 21-0, La Cañada needed a spark and it got that in the form of a 70-yard opening kickoff return to Crescenta Valley's 29 from Franklin Cervenka. Andy Paynter made the return count, breaking a 19-yard touchdown run three plays later to pull the Spartans within 21-7 less than two minutes into the third quarter.

Both teams were shut out the rest of the third quarter, but Ruiz gave Crescenta Valley good field position, as he returned a La Cañada punt 28 yards to the Spartans' 22. Lee struck for this third touchdown on the very next play, a 22-yard run, giving the Falcons a 28-7 lead with 8:43 left in the game.

Schilling was quick to sing Lee's praises after the game.

"Last year when Marro went down we were 4-1 and we didn't win another game after that," said Schilling, who lost Lee to a thumb injury midway through last season. "To me, that is Marro, he is huge."

The Spartans got on the board again when Cervenka broke a 20-yard touchdown run, cutting the lead to 28-14 with 2:27 on the clock. The Falcons got their final score of the game on a five-yard run from David Oh, 28 seconds before the game ended.

Yoder said the Falcons just wore down his defense.

"Most of [our players] are going three ways — offense, defense and special teams," Yoder said. "If you were in that [postgame] huddle you would have seen it."

Lee was happy to see his team win big Friday, especially after the past two rivalry games between CV and La Cañada were decided by no more than five points.

"I hope this is the norm and [the winning streak] isn't going to end," Lee said. "I think the last two years were closer than they should have been. I wasn't too surprised we won like this."