Field Goal

Edgar Melik-Stepanyan SUN VALLEY -- The Verdugo Hills High football team summed up its season in one final drive Thursday against Los Angeles Polytechnic High. With the Dons down by three points and only 45 seconds remaining, many observers in Sun Valley thought Verdugo Hills' season would be over in a matter of seconds as it set up for the onside kickoff. As they have been doing all season, the Dons never quit. Verdugo Hills recovered the onside kick and drove 27 yards downfield to set up a 40-yard field goal attempt by Billy Parra.

GLENDALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE 42, CITRUS COLLEGE 34 Citrus...................6 6 14 8 -- 34 GCC.....................6 14 8 14 -- 42 First Quarter GCC-Latham 55 run (kick failed) 11:54 C-Cardenas 30 field goal 7:43 C-Cardenas 42 field goal 3:47 Second Quarter GCC-Latham 6 run (pass failed) 11:17 C-Terrazas 41 pass from Abkarian (kick failed) 7:28 GCC-McGee 13 pass from Ziska (Latham run) 0:35 Third Quarter GCC-Catchings 10 run (Catchings run)

Charles Rich With a chill settling in, the St. Francis High football team found itself locked in a battle. Then in a 13-second span, the Golden Knights turned it into a rout. Running back Blake Milton rushed for a team-best 148 yards and scored two touchdowns to carry St. Francis to a 31-7 Mission League home win against Alemany on Friday night. The Golden Knights (5-2, 2-0 in league) snapped their two-game losing skid. St. Francis, ranked No. 9 in CIF Southern Section Division III, scored 10 points late in the third quarter to take a 24-7 lead.

SECOND QUARTER -- GCC 0 10 0 14 -- 24 Orange Coast 0 10 7 0 -- 17 -- GCC-Donnelly 44 pass from McDaniel (Mameev kick) 14:23 GCC-Mameev 22 field goal 9:15 OCC-Kleckner 29 field goal 3:44 OCC-Aoki 16 pass from Basanez (Kleckner kick) 0:30 THIRD QUARTER OCC-Downs 9 run (Kleckner kick) 8:18 FOURTH QUARTER GCC-Tyler 5 run (Mameev kick) 14:13 GCC-Berroud 1 run (Mameev kick) 6:34 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING: GCC -- Berroud 32-122, 1 TD (1 yard)

Hamlet Nalbandyan The end result was what many expected. Santa Fe Springs St. Paul, the No. 2 seed in CIF Southern Section Division III, proved to be too much for the Glendale High football team in Friday night's opening-round playoff game, posting a 46-17 victory at home. But the way the Sworsdnen (9-2) reached that result might have been something no oddsmakers could have predicted. A scrappy Glendale team -- making its first postseason appearance since 1991 -- trailed by just five points midway through the second quarter.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE - If ever there was any doubt that momentum is transferable between halves, Friday night's Mission League finale served as a prime example that it indeed can happen. After squeezing in two scores in the final minute of the opening half, the St. Francis High football team came out in the third quarter and scored on the kickoff return in the first of five touchdowns that quarter. The Golden Knights scored three of those off fumble recoveries en route to a convincing 54-8 win over visiting Cathedral to finish third place in league.

Edgar Melik-Stepanyan VALLEY GLEN -- The Glendale Community College football team's defense, a talented unit led by a strong defensive front and a speedy secondary, is turning heads in the Western State Conference. The Vaqueros' defense continued its recovery from a dismal first two games to lead GCC to its first three-game winning streak since 1994. Thanks in large part to Carlos Coronado's three sacks and seven solo tackles and Randy Beckman's 11 tackles, GCC defeated host L.A. Valley, 20-16, Saturday in a WSC Mountain Division game.

Edgar Melik-Stepanyan ANAHEIM -- The look on Loyola High running back Rafael Rice's face expressed exactly how the Cubs felt after their CIF Southern Section Division I football championship game against Long Beach Poly. With tears streaming down his cheeks, it uttered the Cubs sadness after a 16-13 overtime loss to the Jackrabbits Saturday night at Edison Field in Anaheim before 12,621. "We were outplayed for most of the game, but we managed to jump into the lead with 1:12 to go and I thought we had it won," Loyola Coach Steve Grady said.

SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — The turnovers piled up on a chilly Friday night, leading to the end of the season for the Crescenta Valley High football team. In the grand scheme of things, Crescenta Valley committed five turnovers. The majority of them came at the wrong time and sucked the life out of the Falcons. “You can’t make that number of mistakes that we made and expect things to go your way,” Zarrillo said after Crescenta Valley suffered a 33-23 loss to second-seeded South Hills in a CIF Southern Section Southeast Division quarterfinal contest at Glendale High’s Moyse Field.