Crescenta Valley football prepares for new road with 2012 schedule

Upon first look at the Crescenta Valley High football team's 2012 schedule, the most noticeable aspect is what game is not there.

Absent from the schedule is the traditional nonleague showdown known as the "Battle for Foothill Blvd." against cross-town rival St. Francis.

"The biggest thing was just to change it up," said Falcons Coach Paul Schilling, whose Falcons went 6-5 last season, which included a 35-0 loss to St. Francis. "We had to do something differently."

Last year's defeat to the Golden Knights was the 10th straight in the rivalry for the Falcons, compounded by struggles at the lower levels in which Schilling said games, historically, were never close with Crescenta Valley always on the losing end.

"That wasn't good for anybody," Schilling said.

Historically, the game was a large community event that drew a large crowd and, though Schilling believes it's a good move to change the schedule, he admitted it wasn't a celebrated change among the players.

"Our kids were disappointed," Schilling said.

While the St. Francis matchup is no longer, Crescenta Valley will once again take on Santa Paula to lead off the season. Kicking off their season on the road Aug. 31, the Falcons will play a Santa Paula (2-8 last season) team they beat, 40-32, last year.

"It was a good matchup and we'll do it again," said Schilling, who said he will renew the series in the future. "We feel like it's a game we're going into that we feel we should win."

Replacing St. Francis in the second-week slot will be San Marino (7-4 last season) on the road Sept. 7, before Crescenta Valley hosts traditional nonleague rival La Cañada, as a pair of games with Rio Hondo League opposition wrap up the nonleague portion of the Falcons' schedule.

"Those Rio Hondo League teams are good matchups for us," said Schilling, whose team bested La Cañada, 35-14, in 2011.

Adding to the La Cañada (3-7 last season) matchup will be its billing as "Gordy's Game," in memoriam to longtime Falcons head coach and assistant Gordy Warnock, whose death in 2010 came before the showdown with the Spartans.

"This year we're gonna try and really make it a special game," said Schilling, who added at the team's postseason banquet the highest award is also presented to a player in Warnock's name and comes with a $1,000 scholarship.