The big gymnasium will once again be flooded with familiar faces as former Falcon greats will take on the Crescenta Valley varsity basketball team at Nov. 23 at 7 p.m.

It’s a game steeped in tradition, taking place the night before Thanksgiving every year, and acts as the unofficial start to the basketball season.

Head Coach Shawn Zargarian will go against former coach John Goffredo, who was inducted into the CVHS Athletic Hall of Fame in May. Goffredo led the 1994 team to the CIF finals at The Pond in Anaheim (now known as the Honda Center).

Zargarian was on that team, and began coaching at CV after graduating in 1995. He took over the program in 2005 after spending years as a varsity assistant under Adam Jacobsen and Jim Smiley.

Notable alumni who are slated to return include Greg Goorjian, who averaged 43.4 points a game his varsity season in 1978; Jimmy Goffredo, an All-CIF guard who played for Harvard after graduating CV in 2003; Matt Oliver (Azusa Pacific) the 2004 Pacific League MVP, Eric Strangis (USC); Narbeh Ebrahimian (San Diego State) and Harvey Mason (University of Arizona).

This year’s varsity team consists of Koko Kechichian, Trey Ballard, Journey Shank, Kudzai Kachingwe, Christopher Arzoumanian, Chris Chavez, Arman Pezeshkian, Edgmin Rostomian, David Heckmann, Garen Kejejian, Harout Tehanian and Eric Yun.

The team captains are Kachingwe, Ballard and Heckmann. Zargarian’s assistant coaches are Dovall Boykins and Michael Crownover.

The alumni won last year’s game 77-68.

Preceding the varsity game will be the soph-frosh game beginning at 4 p.m. and the JV game at 5:30 p.m.