By Brian PARK

CV Weekly intern

Coming off a huge Glendale win, the Crescenta Valley Falcons stomped the Hoover Tornadoes 41-12 in Friday’s blowout win. The Falcons had a great show of offense, but the team looked sloppy in its win, losing a kickoff and two punts.

The Falcons did not expect an onside kick by Hoover on the first kickoff, resulting in a loss of possession. After making quick work of the Hoover offense, the Falcons got the ball back at the Falcon 20 yard line. Kyle Cota started with a screen pass to receiver Mike Bako, who ran two yards. On the next play, running back Harry Pessy caught a screen pass to run for eight yards to move the chains. Junior Nikko Domingo had his first long run of the season going 45 yards on the next play, outrunning defenders with his speed.  After a failed two attempts to run the ball, quarterback Cota passed to David Whitaker, who broke a tackle, for a touchdown.

After several attempts to move the ball down the field, the Hoover drive was ended with a monster sack by Bryan Luna, forcing the Tornadoes to punt. The Hoover punt was clumsily dropped by the Falcons, giving the Tornadoes possession at the

Crescenta Valley 20 yard line. The Falcon defense took over the possession, getting a tackle for loss and causing two incompletions by Hoover. Dai Dai McFadden then intercepted the ball to run it back 70 yards before getting tripped up at the Hoover 25. Pessy then ran for 11 yards putting the Falcons at the 14. Cota gained 10 yards on the next play, putting Pessy in position to run for a touchdown.

Hoover received the kickoff for no gained, but could not move the ball again and punted the ball out of bounds at the Hoover 40. The Falcons wasted not a second, throwing long for a touchdown catch from Andrew Carcich to put the Falcons up 21-0.

After another failed attempt at a touchdown by Hoover, the Falcons got the ball back. On the first play of the drive, Cota passed to Bako for a gain of 50 yards to put the Falcons at the 20 yard line. Bako again got the reception on a screen pass and went for 10 yards and the first down. After Cota had an incomplete pass, Pessy ran the ball in for a seven yard touchdown run.

Hoover continued with its offensive struggles, gathering a first down then crumbling. The Tornadoes continued with their drive, which was ended with a Falcon sack of 15 yards. The energized Falcons blocked the punt and recovered it at the one  yard line. Cota then finished the job with a touchdown run, but the extra point was blocked putting the Falcons up 34-0.

Hoover’s offense seemed to start working, sparking hope for the home crowd, but could not finish through, being forced to punt the ball. The Falcons dropped the football for the second time during the game, losing it at the 32 yard line. After a pass interference by Crescenta Valley, the Hoover Tornadoes finally got on the board but missed the extra point leaving the Falcons up 34-6 at the half.

The Falcons made quick work of the Hoover offense in the start of the second half, causing the Tornadoes to punt the ball. Cota had another big play to Bako, a 50 yard catch to put the Falcons at the 14 yard line. Cota then had a touchdown pass to Bako putting the Falcons up to their biggest lead of the night, 41-6.

The Falcon backups came in early in the third quarter, only allowing a touchdown

throughout the rest of the game. Even with the mistakes and turnovers the Falcons came out successful.

“It’s easy to fix the mistakes, we can do that through practice,” said Coach Tony Zarillo. “The kids are starting to learn to focus on us and not on the opponents. Earlier in the season, our own worst enemies were ourselves.”