Varsity Team

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — A group of parents is asking the La Cañada Unified School District board to fire the school’s varsity baseball coach, accusing him of violating CIF rules and of financial improprieties, mishandling of players and poor coaching. Parent Bud Schaetzle led the charge Tuesday night when he listed Coach Dennis Ballard’s alleged transgressions during a 15-minute address to the school board, saying he was frustrated after going through a fruitless seven-month process to get the coach fired.

CVHS 25th annual alumni game CVHS boys basketball will play its 25th annual alumni game on Wednesday, Nov. 26, at the school’s gym. The main event takes place at 7:30 p.m. with the former Falcon basketball greats taking on the varsity team. The soph/frosh game will begin at 4:30 p.m., followed by the JV game at 6 p.m. There is an entrance fee of $5 for adults; programs will be on sale for $5. Also, the boys baseball team will be selling dinner provided by Dona Maria’s Restaurant in La Canada, from 5:30 – 7:30 in front of the gym.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE ? The plan for the summer is specific for the Crescenta Valley High boys? basketball team: Compete against many of the top teams from across the region to better prepare it for the upcoming season. Crescenta Valley found a powerful challenger in Taft, which won the L.A. City Section championship and advanced to the State playoffs in Sacramento last season. The Falcons learned plenty about themselves during a 74-35 loss to the Toreadors on Thursday afternoon in a pool-play game of the ninth annual Vaquero Summer Shootout at Glendale Community College.

CROSS-COUNTRY Burroughs in 38th annual Kenny Staub Invitational: The Indian girls' varsity team did well in the meet Saturday at Crescenta Valley Park, as it placed third in Division I. Burroughs was led by Michelle Martinez, who finished seventh in 19 minutes 36 seconds on the three-mile course. She was followed by teammate Sadee Martinez (ninth; 20:10), Lilyana Morejon (14th; 21:07), Brenda Santana (16th; 21:13), Kerry Hodgins (31st; 22:00) and Tryn Campos (38th; 22:48)

Charles Rich History lessons are invaluable for the Crescenta Valley High boys' basketball team. For a program steeped in tradition, the lessons are taught on and off the court from former players who once wore the navy blue jerseys. Then there's the chance for the former greats to compete against the varsity squad. The varsity squad was handed a 62-58 loss by the Alumni team Wednesday night in the 20th annual Falcon Alumni Game. The Alumni improved to 16-4 in the series.

Charles Rich NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- A call up to the Loyola High varsity baseball squad next spring might happen for Loyola High's Terry Walsh. A promotion will depend upon how Walsh can perform the next few weeks for Loyola in Mickey Mantle League competition. Walsh's quest began Friday night. Walsh, who played on Loyola's junior varsity team in 2001, had the game-winning hit to lead Loyola to a come-from-behind 9-7 victory against Calabasas in a Mantle League game called after six innings due to the two-hour, 20-minute time rule Friday night at Stengel Field.

Edgar Melik-Stepanyan NORTHWEST GLENDALE -- Before the Pacific League boys' and girls' swim meet between Crescenta Valley and Hoover highs even began, everybody in the vicinity of the Tornado pool envisioned total domination by the Falcons. In a contest that paired two diverse opponents, CV won 20 of the 22 combined events on the varsity level -- and the 19 events on the junior varsity stage -- Wednesday in front of many Falcon faithful. The CV boys' varsity team won, 129-36, to improve to 5-1, 3-0 in league.

Sixteen years ago Glendale Unified School District's Gifted and Talented Education program began a competition that challenges not physical strength, although stamina plays a major role, but brain power as its key component. Last week's competition marked the 16th annual Scholastic Bowl. Students from Crescenta Valley, Glendale, Hoover and Clark Magnet high schools competed for the title. At CVHS the competition began months ago when history teacher and scholastic coach Vickie Bouldin began tryouts for the competition.

Edgar Melik-Stepanyan This time, the Glendale High boys' basketball team had its own strong and consistent scoring tandem. The first time the Nitros faced Arcadia in a Pacific League game, the Apache tandem of Drew Wheat and Daniel Alexander had an impressive performance, combining for 39 points and 27 rebounds. On Friday night, Glendale kept the forwards in check and got big efforts from Leonard Khechumyan and Tony Munoz in a 54-42 victory at home.

It's not fun to write about because it's sloppy basketball. It's not appealing for a coach because it's the dog-days of summer, when either a) half of the starters are missing, b) some players don't seem like they care or c) an opposing team doesn't show up and a squad is forced to play junior varsity athletes. And, for the players, it's not enjoyable to play games because, in all honestly, the wins or losses don't mean anything. For some girls' basketball high school teams, their summer league performances are an indication of things to come once games matter.

The Crescenta Valley boys? JV basketball team had another solid showing last Friday night when they took on Arcadia at CV. The Falcons needed a strong defense in order to end the first half up and they got it, led by Henry Leff, though a last second shot by Arcadia narrowed the score to 30-29 CV. The third quarter was truly breakout for the Falcons. Leff remained focused coming back on the boards, with he and Mohammad ?Mo? Shahnowaz took the lead in the third quarter. The team quickly racked up seven points, including a three-pointer by Vinny Espinoza, before Arcadia caught two. With the quarter winding down and 2:56 on the clock, Calvin Edwards fouled while making the shot and picked up the third.

CVHS 25th annual alumni game CVHS boys basketball will play its 25th annual alumni game on Wednesday, Nov. 26, at the school’s gym. The main event takes place at 7:30 p.m. with the former Falcon basketball greats taking on the varsity team. The soph/frosh game will begin at 4:30 p.m., followed by the JV game at 6 p.m. There is an entrance fee of $5 for adults; programs will be on sale for $5. Also, the boys baseball team will be selling dinner provided by Dona Maria’s Restaurant in La Canada, from 5:30 – 7:30 in front of the gym.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE ? The plan for the summer is specific for the Crescenta Valley High boys? basketball team: Compete against many of the top teams from across the region to better prepare it for the upcoming season. Crescenta Valley found a powerful challenger in Taft, which won the L.A. City Section championship and advanced to the State playoffs in Sacramento last season. The Falcons learned plenty about themselves during a 74-35 loss to the Toreadors on Thursday afternoon in a pool-play game of the ninth annual Vaquero Summer Shootout at Glendale Community College.

It was a full moon and a clear cold night. Might have been an opening for some sort of novel, but these were the conditions of last Friday's opener for the Crescenta Valley boys' varsity baseball game against alumni from the same school that stood on this Stengel Field so many years ago. Whether or not this alumni team had practiced did not seem to matter, as they seemed to have the talent to match the younger players. The elders defeated their younger generation, 11-5, thanks to a six-run eighth inning, and giving the current Falcons more reason to practice for the upcoming season.

This year's Saugus Shoot Out Tournament has not been a very memorable one for the Crescenta Valley boys' varsity basketball team. Since opening their season on Nov. 29 in the Saugus Tournament, the Falcons have gone 1-3. CV will take a short breather before competing in the San Fernando Valley Invitational on Dec. 19. In a Saugus Tournament contest last Saturday, Ventura Buena laid out the Falcons, 57-39. Buena took an early 12-9 lead at the end of the first quarter, but CV roared back to grab a 20-18 lead at the half.

The Crescenta Valley girl's varsity tennis team ended its regular season with a dominating performance. "This was a great way to end league," said Falcons' Coach Tom Gossard, whose team defeated Burbank 18-0 Tuesday at Crescenta Valley High. "The girls played great." The Falcons were relentless in singles play, led by Natalie Abou-Chakra who lost only two games in her three sets, winning 6-2, 6-0, 6-0. Lindsay Walter and Betty Ionescu had little trouble getting past the competition.

Led by Christine Cho and Katie Park, the Crescenta Valley girls' varsity golf team defeated five other schools in the fourth Pacific League match of the season on Oct.12 at Pasadena's Brookside Golf Course. The Falcons, who improved to 20-2, won the match with a score of 213. San Marino came in second (220), followed by Arcadia (225), Alhambra Mark Keppel (234), Burbank Burroughs (250) and Burbank (251). Individually, Cho took top honors with a two-over-par 38. Teammate Park tied for second along with Arcadia's Jessica Lai as both shot a 39.

Two Crescenta Valley High girls' varsity golfers led the Falcons to a 227-233 nonleague win over visiting Sherman Oaks Notre Dame at Pasadena's Brookside Golf Course on Sept. 12. Christine Cho shot a two-over par 38 while teammate Katie Park contributed a 39 for CV which improved to 4-2. Earlier, Cho and Amy Pramunatong placed in the top five in the first Pacific League match of the season to help Crescenta Valley take third place on Sept. 7. Cho tied for second with a score of 34 and Pramunatong carded a 35 to tie for fifth place which enabled the Falcons to finish ahead of Alhambra Mark Keppel (204)

Having begun its 2006 season last week with a 36-22 home opener loss to Monarch High from Colorado, La Cañada High will attempt to get into the win column tonight (Friday) night when it travels to Glendale High to take on Crescenta Valley in its preseason home opener at 7 p.m. Other local openers are St. Francis hosting Arcadia tonight (Friday) at 7 p.m. and Flintridge Prep battling visiting Malibu at Maranatha High tomorrow (Saturday) at 1:30 p.m. The 0-1 Spartans finished 9-3 overall and in second place with a 4-1 in the Rio Hondo League last year.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — A group of parents is asking the La Cañada Unified School District board to fire the school’s varsity baseball coach, accusing him of violating CIF rules and of financial improprieties, mishandling of players and poor coaching. Parent Bud Schaetzle led the charge Tuesday night when he listed Coach Dennis Ballard’s alleged transgressions during a 15-minute address to the school board, saying he was frustrated after going through a fruitless seven-month process to get the coach fired.