Hoover High

NORTHWEST GLENDALE - The Hoover High and Burroughs boys' soccer teams traded plenty of scoring opportunities through most of their Pacific League opener. Neither the Tornadoes or Indians could solve their opposing goalkeepers until Francisco Baez found an open lane in the closing moments of the 80-minute match. Baez scored with seven minutes left to lift visiting Burroughs to a 1-0 win against Hoover on Tuesday afternoon. Baez took a perfect pass from Nolberto Alcantar and beat Hoover reserve goalkeeper Argin Haghoubian with a 15-yard shot inside the left post to help the Indians improve to 2-5-1.

Judy Seckler GLENDALE -- The arts were alive and well as nine area schools demonstrated their talents at the third annual 21st Senate District Spring Arts Festival at the Alex Theatre. As Chairman of the Legislature's Joint Committee on the Arts, state Sen. Adam Schiff told the crowd Gov. Gray Davis has agreed to a $10-million increase to enhance arts education in the schools. Wednesday evening's free event was a snapshot of youth arts education at work.

GLENDALE — An overflow gathering of mourners paid their final respects on Saturday morning to the late Jim Delzell, a longtime Hoover High baseball coach and teacher. Delzell, a former Burbank resident who passed away in his sleep at the age of 50 on the morning of May 2, was laid to rest at the Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries. For Hoover High, it was the end to a surreal and sad week. “It’s been a tough week for Hoover,” Hoover Principal Kevin Welsh said on Friday.

Joyce Rudolph GLENDALE -- Area schools will perform a free concert, the third annual Spring Arts Festival, sponsored by state Sen. Adam B. Schiff, beginning at 7 p.m. today at The Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd. in Glendale. Schools from the 21st Senate District participating are La Canada High Chamber Singers, Burbank's Jordan Middle School Madrigals, Hoover High Jazz Ensemble, Glendale High Bell Choir, Temple City High Brighter Side Singers, San Marino High Dance Team, Verdugo Hills High choir, Wilson Middle School String Orchestra and South Pasadena's Monterey Hills Elementary School.

Jim Riggio Darkness descended on the Hoover High softball field a little earlier than the Tornadoes would have liked Tuesday, as they hosted Burroughs in a nonleague doubleheader. Hoover came within half and inning of sweeping the two games against the Indians. Hoover won the opening game, 6-5, in eight innings, as the contest was decided on an international tie-breaker. In the second game, the Tornadoes led, 1-0, after four innings. However, umpires called the game because of darkness, denying Hoover the sweep.

Hamlet Nalbandyan GLENDALE -- With strong pitching, there was a good chance the Hoover Softball Classic championship game between Burbank and El Segundo highs Friday would be decided by one run. Unfortunately for Burbank, it fell on the wrong side of the 1-0 contest at Hoover High. The lone run scored by the Eagles was unearned, coming in the bottom of the fourth inning. It was the second straight year the Bulldogs played for the tournament title.

Sang Lee GLENDALE -- The paths that both new Burbank and Hoover high boys' water polo coaches have taken leading to their nonleague match are long and varied. But the similarities between the coaches and their programs are unquestionably similar. Both came into the match without a win, playing their third contest of the season. The two are also first-time high school coaches manned with inexperienced squads. Bulldog Coach Andre Setaghian picked up his first victory Thursday as his team defeated the Tornadoes, 16-7, at Hoover High.

GLENDALE — For one half, the Hoover High boys' soccer team allowed Burbank to stay close. The next half, however, the Tornadoes proved why they are sitting at the top of the Pacific League standings and the Bulldogs are near the bottom, as Hoover finished with a 3-1 home victory Wednesday. "In the first half, we were sleeping," Hoover Coach Charles Martinez said. "That let Burbank react and that is how they tied us." With the score tied at 1 after the first half, the Tornadoes finally woke up. They picked up the offensive attack and dominated the action, netting two unanswered goals.

GLENDALE — It was Hoover High that emerged with a sweep in Friday's Pacific League boys' volleyball match against Burroughs, but each squad had some positives to talk about following the Tornadoes' 25-20, 25-17, 25-20 victory. Hoover notched its first Pacific League win and, while Burroughs remains winless on the season, the Indians continue to show improvement just weeks removed from the creation of the school's first boys' volleyball program. "I think we've definitely shown some improvement in some areas, but it's just a matter of the consistency we're waiting for that comes with experience," Burroughs Coach Joel Brinton said.

GLENDALE — The first time the Hoover High and Burbank baseball teams met this season, the contest came down to the final inning and was decided by just one run. Tuesday’s rematch at Hoover between the Pacific League foes couldn’t have played out more differently, as the surging Bulldogs held the fading Tornadoes scoreless while slugging their way to a 19-0 mercy-rule win in five innings. Burbank’s damage was concentrated in the third inning, when it broke the game open with 13 runs.

GLENDALE - A thrilling and tightly contested affair between Pacific League opponents Hoover High and Burbank that saw 12 tie scores and five as the largest lead naturally came down to the final seconds. While the game literally came down to the final shot, it was in the waning seconds where the Bulldogs prevailed to win, 57-56, in front of a near capacity crowd at Hoover High School Friday evening. Trailing, 57-54, the Tornadoes misfired on two three-pointers, but Argin Sarkisian cleaned up teammate Teo Davidian's miss and was fouled on the put-back.

BURBANK - If the Burroughs High girls' water polo team wanted to put a positive stamp on their final regular season match in Pacific League play and keep its chances alive for another CIF postseason berth, it had to overcome a visiting Hoover squad that was still looking for an elusive league victory. Burroughs took care of business against the Tornadoes, smothering them with defensive pressure en route to a 10-3 victory Thursday afternoon. “We've been having issues all season about players letting up on pressure, but this game it stayed together pretty well,” Burroughs first-year coach Mike Singhanate said.

GLENDALE - The Hoover High and Burroughs boys' basketball teams entered Tuesday's Pacific League opener after enjoying success during tournament play. While the Tornadoes notched consolation championship victories in the Whittier Tournament and the Providence Paul Sutton Tip-Off Classic, the Indians had a championship effort in the Pasadena Poly tournament. The teams were hoping that success would translate into fine showings in league competition this season. Burroughs has to be feeling better about its chances in the Pacific League after earning a 74-51 victory on Hoover's home floor.

GLENDALE - Caitlyn Brooks wasn't aware the Hoover High softball team averaged 16 runs per game in its first three games of the season. That suited the budding Burbank sophomore pitcher fine. Brooks turned in a performance Thursday afternoon that might not soon be forgotten while also serving notice that she plans to keep the Bulldogs in contention for the Pacific League championship. PHOTOS: Hoover vs. Burbank girls' softball “I didn't know anything about Hoover's offense,” said Brooks, who struck out 17 and allowed two hits to lead visiting Burbank to a league-opening 7-0 road victory against Hoover.

NORTHWEST GLENDALE - The Hoover High and Burroughs boys' soccer teams traded plenty of scoring opportunities through most of their Pacific League opener. Neither the Tornadoes or Indians could solve their opposing goalkeepers until Francisco Baez found an open lane in the closing moments of the 80-minute match. Baez scored with seven minutes left to lift visiting Burroughs to a 1-0 win against Hoover on Tuesday afternoon. Baez took a perfect pass from Nolberto Alcantar and beat Hoover reserve goalkeeper Argin Haghoubian with a 15-yard shot inside the left post to help the Indians improve to 2-5-1.

He was a scoring frenzy, a one-man tour de force who raised the level of those around him, ignited the sporting spirit of a campus long absent of much to get excited about and made literal and figurative waves by lifting a historically struggling program to CIF prominence while leaving his statistical signature upon state chronicle. A 6-foot, 185-pound muscled phenom with a lighting bolt for a right arm, he took a lightly regarded program and put it on the map. Along the way of four seasons of scoring parades and CIF triumph, Hoover High senior Hakop Kaplanyan provided record-breaking revelry, clutch histrionics and left a school and an area as a three-time All-Area Boys' Water Polo Player of the Year, as voted for the third consecutive time by the sports editors and writers of the Glendale News-Press, Burbank Leader, La Cañada Valley Sun and Pasadena Sun. "We were happy to have him here all four years and he made everybody around him good," says Jack Van Patten, Hoover's athletic director.

BURBANK HIGH — Hoover High boys’ soccer Coach Kevin Cadenas knows what it’s like to play against Burbank High. As an athlete at cross-town rival Burroughs, Cadenas played his share of contests against the Bulldogs, even going up against current Burbank Coach Frank Chavez. In a Pacific League match Monday, Cadenas — in his first season — found out what it’s like to coach against a team from his home city, as his Tornadoes played at Burbank High.

BURBANK HIGH — On paper and on the court, the Hoover High girls’ basketball team was simply overmatched by Bellarmine-Jefferson when the two teams met in Burbank High Summer League competition on Wednesday. The Guards, who won the CIF Southern Section Division V-A title last season before moving on to capture the Division V state crown, employed physical, aggressive defense and well-rounded offense to hand the Tornadoes a 65-10 loss. Bell-Jeff got 14 points from Julia Tani and nine apiece from Rashonda Napier and Jasmine Smith, while Margeaux Gupilan and Leslie Lopez-Wood led the Guards defensively with six steals each.

GLENDALE — An overflow gathering of mourners paid their final respects on Saturday morning to the late Jim Delzell, a longtime Hoover High baseball coach and teacher. Delzell, a former Burbank resident who passed away in his sleep at the age of 50 on the morning of May 2, was laid to rest at the Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries. For Hoover High, it was the end to a surreal and sad week. “It’s been a tough week for Hoover,” Hoover Principal Kevin Welsh said on Friday.