College Football

For the first half of the season the Glendale Community College football team's mantra has been improvement from week to week. There's certainly been progress, as the Vaqueros' two wins so far have already matched the team's win total of the previous two seasons combined, but it's on the heels of back-to-back losses that Glendale enters its bye week with a record of 2-3 and 0-2 in the Pacific Conference American Division. Still it's with a glass-half-full attitude that the Vaqueros are approaching the week in which they've had a chance to heal up while reflecting on the past five weeks and looking ahead to the home stretch of conference games, as even the team's losses have offered glimpses of things to build on. "We have felt that even though we had a two-game slide, we felt that those teams were the top two team in our conference," said Glendale Coach Rome, whose team has opened conference with losses to Antelope Valley and defending-champion Santa Monica by a combined 15 points.

TODAY COLLEGE FOOTBALL  Glendale Community College at Allan Hancock College, 6 p.m.   GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL  Crescenta Valley and Hoover in Crescenta Valley Tournament, TBA  Webb at Flintridge Prep, 11:30 a.m.  Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy in Redondo Tournament, TBA   CROSS-COUNTRY  Flintridge Prep in Prep League finals at L.A. Pierce College,...

The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene. REID, CHIEFS LOOK TO REGROUP After beginning the season 9-0, the Kansas City Chiefs, who are coached by former Glendale Community College football player Andy Reid , have encountered a three-game losing streak. The recent struggles have coincided with the Chiefs falling out of first place in the AFC's West Division. Two of those defeats have come against the division-leading Denver Broncos, including a 35-28 home loss Sunday.

GLENDALE - An impressive year warranted quite a few awards for the Glendale Community College football team as was recently announced by the American Conference Pacific Division. The Vaqueros, who finished tied for third in the division with a 6-4 overall mark, merited four first-team and seven second-team selections in posting the program's first winning season since 2007. “Honestly, I thought we deserved a few more picks,” Vaqueros sixth-year Coach John Rome said. “But I'm happy with what we received.

D'Angelo Blake and Noche Nwofer have seen the transformation of the Glendale Community College football team unfold nicely. The sophomores have been a major part of the team's resurgence in their quest to help put Glendale on the brink of a possible playoff game. Blake and Nwofer will look to help complete the job when Glendale meets host L.A. Pierce in a crucial Pacific Conference American Division contest at 7 p.m. Saturday. Glendale, which clinched its first winning season since 2007 with a 24-17 division road victory against Santa Barbara on Nov. 9, is 6-3, 4-2 in the division.

SANTA BARBARA - Ten minutes after the conclusion of Glendale City College's American Division Pacific Conference football game, Vaqueros Jose Sanchez, Carlos Gonzalez, Anthony Acevedo and Manuel Garabedian playfully tackled head coach John Rome to the ground. The gesture figured natural since Glendale's defense tallied seven sacks, forced three turnovers and had taken down all other comers in a come-from-behind 24-17 road victory Saturday evening over Santa Barbara City College. “This is special to us because we're trying to change a culture,” said Rome, who was helped up back to his feet by his players.

With a victory in either of its final two games, the Glendale Community College football team can record a winning season for the first time since 2007. For the Vaqueros to achieve a winning mark, they must do so going through the teeth of their schedule. Glendale will start its journey when it meets host Santa Barbara in a Pacific Conference American Division game at 6 p.m. Saturday. Should Glendale (5-3, 3-2 in the division) lose to Santa Barbara (6-2, 3-2), it would have one last opportunity against host L.A. Pierce on Nov. 16 to pick up a winning record for the first time since it went 6-4, 5-2 in the Western State Conference South Division.

GLENDALE - After snapping lengthy losing streaks at home and in conference earlier this season, the Glendale Community College football team had things moving in a positive direction going into its final home game of the year, hosting American Division Pacific Conference foe Los Angeles Valley College. The Vaqueros picked up even more positive momentum Saturday afternoon, playing a strong first half and then cruising to 28-11 victory over the Monarchs. With the win, Glendale has now built a three-game winning streak in conference, finishes with a 4-1 record at Sartoris Field and is now guaranteed to finish .500 or better no matter what the result of its final two games.

Close games hadn't gone in favor of the Glendale Community College football team until last week. On the brink of losing its 12th straight American Division Pacific Conference game, GCC put together a game-winning touchdown drive that was capped with about 30 seconds to play in a 24-21 win over winless West Los Angeles College. While an uplifting win, it was nearly a heartbreaking loss after the Vaqueros led, 17-0, at the end of the first quarter. They ran into some problems when drives stalled deep in their opponent's territory, as Glendale Coach John Rome opted to go for it on fourth down instead of attempting a field goal after his holder suffered an injury.