By Michael YEGHIAYAN

The Crescenta Valley Falcons continue their summer training regimen with the resumption of team practices. Following a CIF mandated break through much of July and August, the Falcons met on the field at Crescenta Valley High School on Wednesday, Aug. 18 to continue developing their offense and defensive schemes.
Practices resume with two held daily, winding down an extremely active summer for Crescenta Valley, which included a number of passing tournaments designed to improve the offense and defensive secondary. The Falcons had also been allowed access to the weight room over the summer break from team practices through a series of voluntary workouts.
As they make their way toward the beginning of the upcoming season, the Falcons will look to improve strength and conditioning through a number of exercises geared toward skill development and team building. Additionally, head coach Paul Schilling plans to begin contact drills this Saturday, Aug. 21.
“We’ve had a great summer, it’s been really productive,” said Schilling as he watched his team during their first workout back. “We are going to try and keep it going and hopefully watch everything snowball.”
As a former defensive coordinator, Schilling has focused much of his attention on solidifying the Falcons’ defense. The Falcons will look to inside linebacker Bryan Luna to anchor the defense in his senior year.
“We are hoping for a big year from Bryan,” said Schilling. “He has the ability to make an impact, and we might see him play both ways as a part of our offensive line.”
The Crescenta Valley offensive outlook is also beginning to take form. Headed up by offensive coordinator Dennis Gossard and CV quarterback legend Hudson Gossard, here are high expectations for the Falcons on the offensive side of the ball. Although there are still questions at quarterback, the starting running back, wide receivers and offensive linemen positions are near being set for next year.
Last year’s junior varsity most valuable player, Marro Lee, is likely to lead the Falcons’ ground attack. Junior Nick Ruiz and senior Nikko Domingo are also slated to be Crescenta Valley’s main threats through the air.
The Falcons will be looking for a number of their starters to put in work on both offense and defense when the regular season works around. In addition to Bryan Luna, Nikko Domingo and offensive lineman Adam Fletcher may be among the CV players who will be asked to play more than one role.
“We have a lot of guys who can play both offense and defense, so if that’s what helps the team we might ask them to that,” said Shilling. “This whole summer, we’ve been telling our guys that they need to compete, and that’s what we expect them to do.”

  Crescenta, Falcons