Football Team

Glendale Community College sophomore linebacker Noche Nwofer was named on Tuesday the Pacific Conference Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts Saturday. Nwofer collected three tackles and returned an interception for a touchdown in Glendale's 41-6 nonconference home victory against San Diego Mesa on Saturday, which improved the Vaqueros record to 2-1 and marked the team's second home victory in as many tries. “It means a lot to win this award, but it's even better that we won,” said Nwofer, who has totaled 15 tackles, two sacks and two interceptions this season.

GLENDALE - When it came to crunch time, Kevin Hello stole the show for the Crescenta Valley High football team. Revenge was on the Falcons' mind when they hosted San Marino on Thursday at Moyse Field and Hello had a huge hand in delivering it with a 56-53 win. The victory gave Crescenta Valley its first 2-0 start in more than a decade. Hello, a senior defensive back and running back, had two touchdowns in the game. The first came on a punt he blocked and recovered in the end zone for a touchdown with three seconds to play in the third quarter and the other came on a 36-yard run with 4:05 left to play that gave Crescenta Valley an insurmountable 55-45 lead.

GLENDALE - The Glendale YMCA Quarterback Club, in its 71st year, normally meets Tuesdays at the Elk's Lodge. The following are odds and ends from the first meeting of the year, which was held at Oakmont Country Club. GADSBY STANDS TALL FOR FALCONS After Crescenta Valley High junior quarterback Brian Gadsby threw a career-high six touchdowns to lead the Falcons to a season-opening 54-20 intersectional road victory against Verdugo Hills, Crescenta Valley Coach Paul Schilling did some research.

After initial reports of the death of actor Paul Walker and his friend, race-car driver Roger Rodas , emerged earlier this week, Crescenta Valley High assistant football coach Dennis Hughes recalled he had once coached Rodas. “When this happened, I saw the name Roger Rodas and kept thinking, I know that name. That was one of our guys,” Hughes said this week. Hughes coached Rodas in the early 1990s on Hoover High's football team, with Rodas playing defensive back. He remembered Rodas as a kind, “silent leader on the team,” who never skipped practice.

Erik Boal SANTA MARIA -- The three-plus hour bus ride home from Santa Maria probably felt like an eternity for the St. Francis High football team Saturday night. Because after the Golden Knights' 31-20 loss to St. Joseph, their second in as many games and first back-to-back defeats since Nov. 1999, the looks on the faces of the St. Francis players were as if their season had already hit rock bottom. "We have to go back and reevaluate everything as it relates to this football team," said Golden Knight second-year Coach Jim Bonds, who lost only two games during the 2000 regular season.

In a recent letter to the editor, reader Don Mazen echoes the current attitude toward the treatment of our youth (“Local teams outclassed in current league,” Oct. 13). I am very concerned. Whatever happened to the coach's cry of, “When the going gets tough the tough get going”? Mazen believes that an easier league, if there is such a thing, is the answer to Glendale and Hoover highs' misfortunes on the gridiron. The message he brings to our aspiring athletes is if a task or goal is too difficult, then give up. It is a good thing that the American people of World War II never took such an attitude.

East Los Angeles is moving closer to becoming its own city despite mounting cost concerns and implications of cityhood, Curbed LA reported.  Officials released the final version of the East Los Angeles Comprehensive Fiscal Analysis late last week, which questioned the financial viability of East LA becoming a city.   Recycling raises income of poor households One Occidental College professor's research suggets that recycling bottles and cans could be a significant source of income for poor people given states set their bottle-deposit refunds high enough.

GLENDALE - Still in his scrubs from his full-time job as a chiropractor in Arcadia, Robert Clarizio was at his second full-time gig, albeit a volunteer one. Just after arriving at Hoover High, Clarizio helped set up practice lights for the football field, assisted in the snack shop, talked with coaches and took time to teach a youngster the proper tackling technique. Across the field, the Glendale Tornados, a Pop Warner program, began warming up for practice. That meant that Clarizio was going to be at Hoover for at least another three hours, and by the time he went home, he would've had a 14-hour day. As the first-year president of the Glendale Tornados, he has loved each part of his second job. “It's a lot of work, I'm still in uniform … but I love it,” said Clarizio, who took over the presidential duties from his brother, Andre, who moved on to serve as an assistant coach for the Hoover High football team.

CULVER CITY - It wasn't easy, but the Glendale Community College football team got it done. Down four on the road at West Los Angeles College, Vaqueros quarterback Sean Murphy found tight end Tanner Mays on an out route off of play action for the go-ahead touchdown strike from three yards out with about 29 seconds left. PHOTOS: Glendale College vs. West L.A. College football “It scared me,” Murphy said. “I thought I overthrew him, but luckily he has long arms and he got it.” Glendale held on to defeat West L.A., 24-21, to keep the Wildcats winless, while snapping an 11-game American Division Pacific Conference losing streak of its own. GCC, which lost to the Wildcats, 41-6, at home last season, improved to 3-3 overall, 1-2 in conference.

OFFENSE QB - Andrew Williams, Senior, Burroughs Second-team All-Pacific League pick completed 112 of 184 passes for 1,467 yards with 15 touchdowns and five interceptions. In addition, he had 65 carries for 221 yards and three touchdowns. RB - Jadon Henry, Senior, La Cañada Talented All-Rio Hondo League first-teamer rushed for 478 yards in 55 carries and five touchdowns. RB - Daniel Jung, Junior, Glendale Nitros' biggest offensive threat had 914 yards in 120 carries, averaging almost eight yards a carry and notching nine touchdowns.

The struggles and triumphs of the Glendale Bears Youth Football and Cheerleading organization read like the pages of a Hollywood script. The group fell victim twice to embezzlers, leaving the organization broke. Then, the young players had a defeating season last year with no touchdowns. Their luck, however, turned around this year and they nearly won a conference title. During the last seven years, the nonprofit has worked hard to overcome major financial woes stemming from a breach of trust.

After initial reports of the death of actor Paul Walker and his friend, race-car driver Roger Rodas , emerged earlier this week, Crescenta Valley High assistant football coach Dennis Hughes recalled he had once coached Rodas. “When this happened, I saw the name Roger Rodas and kept thinking, I know that name. That was one of our guys,” Hughes said this week. Hughes coached Rodas in the early 1990s on Hoover High's football team, with Rodas playing defensive back. He remembered Rodas as a kind, “silent leader on the team,” who never skipped practice.

CULVER CITY - It wasn't easy, but the Glendale Community College football team got it done. Down four on the road at West Los Angeles College, Vaqueros quarterback Sean Murphy found tight end Tanner Mays on an out route off of play action for the go-ahead touchdown strike from three yards out with about 29 seconds left. PHOTOS: Glendale College vs. West L.A. College football “It scared me,” Murphy said. “I thought I overthrew him, but luckily he has long arms and he got it.” Glendale held on to defeat West L.A., 24-21, to keep the Wildcats winless, while snapping an 11-game American Division Pacific Conference losing streak of its own. GCC, which lost to the Wildcats, 41-6, at home last season, improved to 3-3 overall, 1-2 in conference.

GLENDALE - Eight total turnovers, 28 combined penalties and lethargic play throughout slowed down an emotional war of words before, during and after Friday evening's Pacific League football contest between Glendale High and host Crescenta Valley at Moyse Field. Whatever hype was generated 24 hours before the game on Twitter didn't help either side, particularly the Falcons, who overcame a potential trap in the form of the Nitros in a 27-7 victory. “This wasn't our best game. We weren't sharp, we made mistakes and we should have played better,” said Falcons quarterback Brian Gadsby, who completed 12 of 23 passes for 95 yards, two interceptions and one touchdown.

LA CAÑADA - In a season so far characterized by dominance, the St. Francis High football team has certainly put forth more spectacular performances than it did on Friday night. PHOTOS: St. Francis vs. Cathedral Mission League football However, St. Francis still could not have asked for a more impressive start to the season than the undefeated one it continued, as Golden Knights senior running back Joe Mudie rushed for 183 yards and two long touchdowns in 15 carries to highlight a 31-21 Mission League victory over visiting Cathedral at Friedman Field.

It appears the Glendale Community College football team is in prime position to snap another losing streak Saturday. Coming into a game against a winless West Los Angeles College squad, the Vaqueros are poised to win their first American Division Pacific Conference contest in 12 games. Still, Glendale Coach John Rome knows his team is in no position to take anything for granted. “[West LA] is 0-5, but they probably think if there's a game they can win it's going to be this week,” said Rome, whose team has lost its last two games and is 2-3, 0-1 in conference coming off a bye week.

GLENDALE - The Glendale YMCA Quarterback Club, in its 71st year, meets Tuesdays at the Elk's Lodge. The following are odds and ends from the sixth meeting of the year. FALCONS RELIVE WILD RIDE With impeccable timing, the Crescenta Valley High football team got its biggest win of the year a week after its first loss. At the Glendale YMCA Quarterback Club Tuesday, Falcons Coach Paul Schilling was all too happy to recount his team's 48-47 overtime Pacific League win against a then-undefeated Burbank.