A bad loss last week has to be in the rearview as focus is on another tough team in the Bulldogs this week.

By Brandon HENSLEY

Paul Schilling knew it might be coming. He made it known that Muir High School’s football team was going to be a tough assignment for his Crescenta Valley Falcons. Despite the fact Muir entered last Friday’s game 0-3, they had played three very good schools outside the Pacific League, and had yet to play a home game, and CV’s coach knew this.

It all came together for the Mustangs on their home turf as they easily dispatched CV 36-0. Call it a game of firsts: Muir scored four times on the first play of those drives.

The first quarter was sluggish for both teams, but from its own 46-yard-line, Muir scored on the first play of the second quarter on a completion by quarterback Joshua Muema-Washington to Andreece Brown who evaded several would-be tacklers along the left sideline to give his team 7-0 lead.

“We didn’t play well. We played well defensively except for the couple big plays,” said Schilling. “Every play they scored was on a big play. That was our main thing the whole week, to not give up big plays. And we did.”

As explosive as Muir was on offense, the Falcons were just the opposite. The running game with William Wang was sluggish and quarterbacks Ben Rees and Joe Torres were not as sharp as they were the week before against La Cañada. Rees was five-of-14 passing for just 37 yards, and Torres, who came in during the third quarter, was three-of-eight for 57 yards.

“We couldn’t generate any offense,” said Schilling. “We couldn’t capitalize on their mistakes. We couldn’t get a drive going. We thought we could, we just couldn’t.”

The Falcons missed a 36-yard field goal in the first half, and their other best chance to score came late in the fourth quarter when they had a first down inside Muir’s 5-yard-line. CV failed to score and turned the ball over on downs. Muir took over and Brown broke free on the first play for a 96-yard score to make it 29-0.

“We’re really disappointed in the end of the game,” Schilling said. “That was kind of … gut check time. …That’s not good … everybody loses, but it’s the way we [didn’t respond].”

The Falcons committed two turnovers against Muir. That’s one more than they had the first three games.

The Falcons fell to 2-2, and are 0-1 in the Pacific League. They seem to be alternating performances week to week. They face the Pasadena Bulldogs at Moyse Field at Glendale High School Friday at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs are 1-3, but beat Glendale last week to open league 1-0. They beat CV in last year’s contest.

Schilling said the Bulldogs aren’t as explosive as Muir traditionally, and that he expects his team to play better Friday.

“You have to execute your defense and your offense,” said Schilling. “Our big problem was we didn’t execute offensively. We couldn’t move the ball with any consistency.”

This loss isn’t a death knell for the Falcons; it is just the first game of the league season after all. Not since 2008 has a team gone undefeated in the Pacific League, when Muir went 7-0 (CV was 6-1 that year in league.)

“Nobody’s run the table,” said Schilling. “There’s always at least a loss by every team. So in our mind we’re still hoping for a Pacific League championship.”

Other Pacific League Scores
Pasadena 35, Glendale 0
Arcadia 18, Burroughs 8
Burbank 48, Hoover 7