Cougars

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — Glendale Adventist Academy first-year boys' basketball Coach Sheldon Franklin hadn't heard of Patrick Gonzalez until Thursday night. After watching Gonzalez make an assortment of shots from around the floor, Franklin seemed impressed with the Providence High shooting wiz who came into Thursday's contest averaging 36.6 points per game. "He's deadly from the outside," Sheldon said of Gonzalez, who finished with 43 points to spark visiting Providence to an 85-54 Liberty League road win against Glendale Adventist.

BURBANK — Just 16 minutes into a new season, strides had been made by the Renaissance Academy basketball team. The Wildcats, who advanced to the CIF semifinals last season, graduated several key players. That's left Renaissance Coach Sid Cooke to mix and match in trying to find the right lineup combination for the young Wildcats. Renaissance held strong in the first half, but came up short in the second as it suffered a 73-52 loss to Crenshaw on Monday night in a pool-play contest of the 42nd annual Bulldog Tip-Off Classic at Burbank High.

GLENDALE — Nathan Sellers (Crescenta Valley Erik Kleinsasser (Crescenta Valley, 200?) Occidental College junior cross-country runner: Kleinsasser's decorated career got a bit more decorated as he became an All-West Region selection after taking fifth on Saturday in Oregon at the Division III West Regionals 8,000-meters race. Rachel Lange (Crescenta Valley, 200?) Brigham Young University junior cross-country runner: One of Crescenta Valley's most heralded runners, Lange concluded her season along with the Cougars on Saturday at the Mountain Region Championships.

LOS ANGELES — There are no plans for a victory parade through the streets of Glendale, but one could excuse the members of the Glendale Community College football team for celebrating like they had won the Super Bowl or the BCS Championship game Saturday night. In a handful of their first nine games of the season, the Vaqueros appeared on the doorstep of victory, only to see them lose in heartbreaking fashion. Thanks to a big performance from its starting running back and three key defensive plays from its strong safety on Saturday, Glendale found a way to finish the job and pick up its first win of the season in its season finale.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — Even though the girls' volleyball teams from Glendale Adventist Academy and San Gabriel Academy no longer share residency in the Westside League, Tuesday afternoon's matchup still had all the passion and intensity of a late-season league battle. "They're our sister school, so this [rivalry] has been forever between the two schools," Glendale Adventist Coach Bianka Tulgar said. "It will always be a rivalry. No matter where we are, it will always be that way. " The host Cougars, who are now in the Liberty League, and the defending Westside League-champion Eagles opened the latest chapter in their ongoing saga with San Gabriel surviving a Glendale Adventist surge in the middle stanza to pull off a 25-15, 26-24, 25-10 sweep.

GLENDALE — Heading into its CIF Southern Section Division V first-round boys’ volleyball match, Glendale Adventist Academy and Coach Hugo Gomez knew little about host Summit, the San Andreas League champion. But after first glimpsing their opponents, the Cougars seemingly knew enough. “We were a little intimidated I think,” said Gomez in reference to the opposition’s size. But it was the height and skill of the Skyhawks that ultimately keyed their overwhelming sweep of the Cougars, as Glendale Adventist’s season came to a first-round end after a 25-10, 25-10, 25-13 loss on Tuesday evening.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — Pending on how one chooses to look at it, Glendale Adventist Academy’s boys’ volleyball team’s dramatic 25-14, 29-31, 25-21, 22-25, 15-10 Westside League loss to rival San Gabriel Academy on Thursday could likely be seen two ways. Perhaps in a more positive light, it was a tenacious effort for the host Cougars in front of a boisterous home crowd against the league’s first-place squad. Then again, it might very well have been the latest chapter in a season in which Glendale Adventist just can’t seem to catch a break.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — Their efforts have improved, but it hasn’t led to the members of the Glendale Adventist Academy boys’ volleyball team winning any matches. Glendale Adventist Coach Hugo Gomez figured the Cougars might be in line for their first win of the season — they had two earlier wins taken away because of an ineligible player — on Thursday afternoon. A slow start doomed Glendale Adventist, however. Glendale Adventist received 15 kills from senior outside hitter Finster Paul, but it wasn’t enough as the host Cougars suffered a 25-19, 25-17, 23-25, 25-22 nonleague loss against Orangewood Adventist Academy.

SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — Glendale High boys’ volleyball coach Ta’ase Mose figured it was a good time to give his second string some game action. Leading two games to none against Hawthorne Math and Science Academy in a nonleague match Thursday, Mose played his bench the entire third game. The Nitros wound up losing that game, but the starters had no trouble against the Cougars in the fourth, winning 25-17, 26-24, 23-25, 25-14. “I wanted the second string to get some experience, so they can step up in case of an injury down the road,” Mose said.

GLENDALE — While it didn’t show on the scoreboard of a 61-51 loss to host Aquinas in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division V-A playoffs, the change in attitude for the Glendale Adventist Academy girls’ basketball team was showcased in Thursday night’s loss. “When we first came into it, we talked to the other coaches and they told us how the girls tended to mentally shut down when things weren’t going their way, I guess they weren’t disciplined,” said GAA co-Coach Amy Banquerigo, who took over a 2-3 Cougars team with Nicole Gupilan after Chris Lindstadt stepped away due to the birth of his child.