Field Goal

Staff Reports Call it the most lopsided win in the history of the Glendale Panthers. The Panthers, a YMCA-based 13-year-old boys' team, held the Acton Crown Valley Colts without a field goal the entire game to earn a 65-2 victory in a Valley Conference game at Glendale High. The Panthers (5-1) raced to a 20-1 lead in the first quarter and the Colts didn't score again until they made a free throw in the fourth quarter. "We're off to a great start," Coach Mike Hailey said.

Grant Gordon Nobody thought St. Francis would find itself in the CIF Southern Section quarterfinals to begin with. With 1:29 remaining and 73 yards in front of them, it's not likely many thought the Golden Knights would find themselves in the semifinals, either. But then receiver Scott Stephens answered St. Francis' prayers when he caught Matt Abbey's 45-yard bomb with 39 seconds left to propel the Golden Knights past Redondo, 17-16, on Friday night at Friedman Field in the CIF quarterfinals.

Edgar Melik-Stepanyan MOYSE FIELD -- Forty eight minutes of hard-hitting, nail-biting and adrenaline action wasn't enough to settle matters between Loyola and Eisenhower highs during Friday's CIF Southern Section Division I semifinal game. Than finally, it all came down to two men. Kicker Nathan Oakes from Loyola and kicker/receiver Michael Hawkins Jr. from Eisenhower. In the end, Oakes held his head high, while Hawkins Jr. lay in despair. Thanks to Oakes and a missed field goal by the Eagles, the Cubs prevailed, 17-14, in a California overtime tie-breaker at Moyse Field.

VAN NUYS ? For weeks, the East squad listened to the prevailing notion from the press, fans and opponents that the West squad simply had too much talent and would roll to a victory in Sunday afternoon?s 2008 Valley Youth Conference East-West All-Star football game. After pulling off a gritty 9-7 victory at Birmingham High in the 42nd edition of the all-star classic, it was the East, which included 10 players from area high schools, having the last laugh. ?We were the no-names,?

Hamlet Nalbandyan When the state's No. 3-and 5-ranked teams face each other, it's almost certain that an epic could be in the making. The 7,000-plus that watched Mater Dei face Loyola at Moyse Field Saturday night witnessed just that. The final score read in the Monarch's favor, 24-21, but the game was much more than just another nonleague affair. It featured CIF Southern Section Division I's No. 2 (Mater Dei) and No-3-ranked teams, two legendary coaches in Mater Dei's Bruce Rollinson and Loyola's Steve Grady, and two possible future Division I standouts in Loyola quarterback Matt Ware (UCLA)

Edgar Melik-Stepanyan NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- Sometimes a coach can only ask for so much. So when the Glendale Community College men's basketball team fell to L.A. Valley, 70-68, on Saturday in a Western State Conference Southern Division game at home, Vaquero Coach Brian Beauchemin wasn't too concerned. The reason being was that the Vaqueros showed a lot of heart, kept their poise in critical situations, and executed a pressing defensive gameplan to near perfection.

Shel Segal Sometimes, it's not what a team does in the final minutes of a basketball game that leads to an eventual win. Instead, it's often what it does early in the first quarter that makes a difference. The Burbank High boys' team proved that Monday night. The Bulldogs opened the game with eight straight points against visiting Hoover and held off a late rally to win, 43-39, in a nonleague game at Burbank. Despite staving off the Tornadoes, Burbank Coach Jose Hernandez praised his opponent's effort.

Typical Glendale Community College football. The Vaqueros started the 2005 season like they only knew how, providing thrills and heartaches, disappointments and satisfactions and so much more. But on the day Glendale College christened its new field, the Vaqueros couldn't provide their fans with a victory. Glendale College erased a 16-point deficit in the final three minutes, but Southwestern College's Ryan Bowling easily made a 39-yard field goal with three seconds remaining to lift the Jaguars to a 39-36 triumph Saturday night at Sartoris Field.

Erik Boal LOS ANGELES -- Verdugo Hills High first-year Coach Darren FitzGerald was right on following his team's 27-7 season-opening loss to L.A. Marshall when he said that his team just didn't have the horses to keep up with its opponent. Marshall ran for 137 yards and passed for 105 more, and held Verdugo Hills to minus-18 yards in 16 carries en route to a convincing win Friday at Boyd Field at L.A. Marshall High. "They're a big, physical team and we just didn't have the depth to keep up with them," FitzGerald said.

LA CRESCENTA - Going into the fourth quarter of their Pacific League contest Wednesday, neither the Crescenta Valley High nor Burroughs girls' basketball teams were shooting the ball particularly well. With both defenses also playing with intensity, it should come as no surprise that the host Falcons held only a modest one-point lead in a low-scoring affair going into the final eight minutes. But while the Indians started knocking down their shots, the Falcons continued to struggle and had by far their lowest output of any of their four quarters, scoring just two points on no field goals.

The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene. JACKSON, RAIDERS GET BY BEARS The Oakland Raiders, coached by former Glendale Community College quarterback Hue Jackson , remain in first place in the NFL's American Conference's West Division. Oakland recorded a 25-20 home win against the Chicago Bears on Sunday and maintain a one-game lead over the Denver Broncos. The Raiders (7-4) are in first place for the first time in December since 2002, when they advanced to the Super Bowl against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

BURBANK — As badly as the Glendale High girls' basketball team was getting outplayed Wednesday afternoon, it was still within one basket of tying up the score early in the third quarter. As it turned out, however, the second half — with the exception of the first couple minutes — was a nightmare for the Nitros. And though it looked like the tide was turning, Serah Mirzaeian's three-pointer early in the third quarter that brought the deficit down to three was the final field goal of the game for Glendale.

SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — Riding a six-game winning streak on the heels of winning the Don Lugo Tournament championship, all seemed to be going right for the Glendale High girls' basketball team. But just in front of the midway mark of its Pacific League opener against Pasadena, everything started to go wrong for the host Nitros. Their shots wouldn't fall, rebounds were nearly impossible to come by and a first-quarter lead slipped into a lopsided defeat, as Glendale lost to Pasadena, 38-28.

CULVER CITY — Elation turned to heartbreak for the Glendale Community College football team in a matter of seconds on Saturday afternoon. Ten seconds, to be exact, or the amount of time it took host West Los Angeles College to convert a make-or-break first down with a highlight-reel catch at the Vaqueros' two-yard line on fourth and long and kick a field goal as time expired in the fourth quarter to steal a 26-24 Pacific Conference American...

GLENDALE — While still yet to crack the win column this season, the Glendale Community College football team could at least claim some small victories following its 44-28 road loss to Allan Hancock at Righetti High on Saturday night. In contrast to their previous defeats this year, the Vaqueros (0-4) started the game strong and were very much in it at the end, although two late touchdowns by the Bulldogs would somewhat obscure that fact in the box score. "We fought hard," said Glendale Coach John Rome, whose team held leads at halftime and in the third quarter, then fell behind, but got back to within a field goal on a 15-play, 80-yard drive capped by a three-yard touchdown run from Joshua Nakamoto with 4:48 left in the fourth.

PASADENA — No matter how hard they tried to end their shooting woes, the shots just didn’t fall for the Flintridge Prep girls’ basketball team. Specifically, the Rebels attempted eight shots and misfired on all of them in the third quarter. Despite a valiant fourth-quarter comeback bid, the third quarter proved to be Flintridge Prep’s undoing. Flintridge Prep managed just four free throws in the third quarter and suffered a 55-46 loss to La Salle on Thursday afternoon in a pool-play contest of the Pasadena Poly Tournament.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — A week removed from coming up short of a comeback in an upset bid, the Crescenta Valley football team came from behind to stave off an upset. Behind four total Kyle Cota touchdowns and 226 yards rushing in 17 carries from Harry Pessy, the Falcons overcame a plethora of penalties and three crucial turnovers to defeat La Cañada, 38-35, on Friday night at La Cañada High. “I can’t remember as a coach when I was this frustrated during the course of a game,” said Falcons Coach Tony Zarrillo, whose team improved to 2-1 and rebounded from last week’s 28-21 loss to St. Francis.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — As suddenly as the Flintridge Prep boys’ basketball team’s offense roared to life early in the third quarter, it fell maddeningly silent at the most critical juncture of Friday night’s CIF Southern Section Division V-AA second-round playoff game. Leading visiting Cantwell Sacred Heart of Mary by five points with four minutes left in the game, the Rebels went without a field goal down the stretch, a frustrating sequence that ended in a missed three-point attempt at the buzzer from the top of the key by Edmund Chow and a 71-69 loss.

VAN NUYS ? For weeks, the East squad listened to the prevailing notion from the press, fans and opponents that the West squad simply had too much talent and would roll to a victory in Sunday afternoon?s 2008 Valley Youth Conference East-West All-Star football game. After pulling off a gritty 9-7 victory at Birmingham High in the 42nd edition of the all-star classic, it was the East, which included 10 players from area high schools, having the last laugh. ?We were the no-names,?