By Walsh CARVALHO

The Crescenta Valley Falcons have had an inspirational start to their season. They recently won the Falcon Classic, which they hosted, by beating Simi Valley with a score of 53-52.

“Simi Valley game was a great game. It was our third time in the championship game in three years. We lost to Golden Valley three years ago, lost to Simi Valley last year and finally beat them this year by one,” said head coach Shawn Zargarian.

Nick Dragovich had 20 points and 8 rebounds, while Coltrane Powdrill had 11 points, 4 rebounds and teammate Adam Dasaad had 9 points and 4 assists.

Dragovich and Powdrill were selected onto the all tournament team, and Dasaad was voted MVP of the tournament.

The Falcons then took flight to Maui, to play in the Maui Winter Classic. They played a total of four games starting last Friday.

“The Maui Winter Classic hosted by Lahainaluna high has been around for a while. We are usually invited to come play in the tournament, but this was the first year that dates worked out for us,” said coach Zargarian adding, “I thought it was a great group of kids to take on the trip. We have a lot of multi-year varsity players and we thought it would be a nice way to reward them and their families.”

And reward them they did, as the team will be arriving home with the second place trophy falling just short of the first place award. That title left the island, with fellow So Cal team Redondo Union high. The final score was 52-47.

The classic started off strong for the Falcons. On Friday the team beat Molokai 67-29. Leading the way was Coltrane Powdrill with 16 points, Nick Dragovich took 15 points with 10 rebounds which helped the team considerably. Christian Misi had 8 points, 9 rebounds, and Adam Dasaad and Cole Curie had 8 scores a piece.

“Our first game against Molokai had a rough start. We weren’t very sharp and didn’t have a lot of focus. Half time score was 25-18. We were able to turn it on the second half,” Zargarian said. CV pulled away, outscoring 23-7.

On Saturday the winning continued, with the Falcons scoring more than double that of opponent Richmond of Ontario with 65-29. Powdrill had 13 points and 12 rebounds, Dragovich made 12 points, teammate Mohammad Shawnowaz came off the bench to contribute 11 points and 8 rebounds while Misi had 8 points and 8 rebounds, on the night.

Sunday was an off day for the team which they did enjoying the pleasures of Maui. They went snorkeling and attended a team luau.

Monday they were back at it against host Lahainaluna. They once again almost doubled the opponent’s score, with a final outcome of 64-36.

“They are just bigger and stronger,” said Lahainaluna coach Todd Richter about the Falcons. “It was like they took us behind the school house and just handed us a beating.”

The win advanced CV to the final game against Redondo Union on Tuesday.

Powdrill had 19 points and 7 rebounds against Lahainaluna, while Dragovich and Dasaad both had 9 points. Dasaad got all of his points from the outside, with three from the paint.

The championship game was going the Falcons way at the end of the third quarter, with a four-point lead over Redondo 34-30.

However the Falcons wings were clipped when the Sea Hawks’ Jamar Cannon made three in a row from the outside, helping bring his team to its final outcome of 52-47.

The Falcons top scorer in the final game was Powdrill, who put 16 points on the board.

The Falcons’ next game is on Jan. 5 at home against Burroughs.