Falcons, Tornadoes, Indians finish with mixed results

LA CRESCENTA — Taking a brief break from spring practice sessions, a quartet of area high school football teams looked for early indications to determine how their respective skill position units would respond facing live competition.

For the most part, Crescenta Valley, Hoover, Burroughs and Burbank had mixed results during the first day of the annual Gordy Warnock Passing Tournament at Crescenta Valley on Friday afternoon. Crescenta Valley and Hoover each split their two games, while Burroughs and Burbank dropped both of their contests.

Crescenta Valley Coach Paul Schilling, Hoover's Andrew Policky, Burroughs' Keith Knoop and Hector Valencia of Burbank kept close tabs on their respective teams.

Crescenta Valley opened with an 8-6 victory against Burroughs in a Bracket B game. The Falcons then suffered a 22-14 bracket defeat against L.A. Marshall.

"We use this as a learning tool and the biggest thing is to look for the players who are gritty and diving for balls," said Schilling, who guided the Falcons to an appearance in the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division playoffs last season. "We have a new quarterback in Ben Rees and we'll look to get back at it [today]."

Rees threw a touchdown in the first game to wide receiver Kyle Tavizon. On the flip side, Rees tossed three interceptions, leading to all of Burroughs' points.

Rees fared better against Marshall, connecting with wide receiver Jack Lutynski for a pair of touchdowns.

Hoover, which didn't qualify for the playoffs last season, began with a 54-6 loss against Valencia in a Bracket A game. However, the Tornadoes regrouped by topping L.A. Wilson, 30-6.

Hoover wide receiver Zach Hanson caught three touchdowns for the Tornadoes against Wilson. Quarterback Brendon Kerr threw two scoring passes to Hanson, who also caught one from quarterback Se Jun Kim.

"We have more of a running team, but something like this can only help," Policky said. "With the numbers that we have, we don't get these kind of looks at spring practice.

"Something like this will teach them how to compete more and get them in the right frame of mind because they are going up against talented teams."

Burroughs struggled at times to get a consistent offensive flow, especially against Crescenta Valley.

The Indians, who shared the Pacific League title with Arcadia last season, stalled twice on possessions near the 10-yard line.