CV has been competing in numerous passing games to prepare for upcoming season.

By Maddy PUMILIA

School may be out for Crescenta Valley High School students, but that hasn’t stopped the Falcon football team from working hard.

“It’s like its own little season,” said Head Coach Paul Schilling of the summer practices.

To prepare for the upcoming season, the team has been doing passing scrimmages. Nathan Vasquez, assistant head coach, remembers doing the scrimmages when he played at CV 12 years ago. The Falcons meet with other schools including those from Santa Clarita, Glendale and St. Francis in La Cañada to play a 40-minute seven-on-seven padless one-hand touch game. Since May 20, the team has played about 50 games. The games focus on pass coverage. The quarterback has 3.6 seconds to throw the ball. If he doesn’t in that time, it’s considered a sack.

The quarterback, linebackers, defensive backs, running backs and wide receivers play. Linemen do not play in the scrimmages. However, they still work out with the team and meet with the coaches.

“The scrimmages get us better prepared for what happens in the season,” said quarterback Zac Wilkerson. “Without scrimmages, we’d be less prepared.”

Wide receiver/saftety Nick Ruiz added that the scrimmages help get the moves and routes down better and it’s really beneficial for the younger guys.

Schilling said the biggest reason for the scrimmages is the timing for the quarterback and the wide receivers and to see who is ready to compete.

The weekday games are informal, because nobody keeps score. On the weekends, there are passing scrimmages tournaments. Last weekend, the team went 4-1 in a tournment at Ayala High School. They beat Garfield High School, Eisenhower, Ayala and Don Lugo High School. They lost to Paloma Valley.

“We did really well in the last tournament,” said Wilkerson. “We were really prepared.”

“We should have a better season this year. A lot of our good guys are returning,” said Schilling. Schilling mentioned four standout seniors: Wilkerson, running back Marro Lee, Ruiz and center/linebacker Nathan Sarreal. He pointed out that with Lee, the team was 4-1 and after he got hurt, the team fell to 4-6. He added Justin Springfield, tight end/outside linebacker to the lists of stars because Springfield caught his eye and has had a good summer.

The JV team was 8-2 and league champions last year so Schilling is “hoping a lot of those guys step up, especially on the defensive line.”

“Coach Schilling is like a kid. It’s easy to connect with him,” Sarreal said.

“It’s his second year as head coach and he’s done a good job,” said Wilkerson.

“He’s definitely a good leader,” Ruiz agreed.

The scrimmages ended on Tuesday with the exception of an alumni game taking place today. The team meets again on August 15.

“We are going to do better than last year,” said Nathan Sarreal. “We are more dedicated and have better leadership.”

  MADDY PULILIA