Tim Peterson
By Tim Peterson
The last time the Duarte Falcons were relevant was when Wardell Crutchfield was the head coach. Crutchfield won games, put fans in the seats and got players to the next level. He had only one losing season in a five year run (his first year in 2004) and took his team to the semi finals in 2006.
At the time Principal Eric Barba said they wanted “to go in a different direction.” We never actually figured out what direction that was. This week when it was confirmed that Travis Brown was out as HC after two years I was thinking maybe the Falcons would again go in a different direction- a winning one.
Wrong! Rumors about Crutchfield landing somewhere have surfaced for years, almost with every local job opening, and again were floating around with the news of Brown’s dismissal. Brown is the third coach to come and go since Crutchfield was let go in January 2009.
But Crutchfield put the kibosh on that rumor when I contacted him on Saturday. He used only two words. “No dice!” he said via text message. No other explanation was offered.
Okay. I don’t know. It seemed like a good fit to me.
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As expected James Heggins relinquished the head coach job at Baldwin Park. He made it clear that it would only be for one year when he took over last year. The Braves, who are coming off a Montview league championship, are currently accepting applications.
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Anybody want Gladstone? It’s open with the departure of Citos Marinez to Jurupa Valley. It seems like a tough gig now – the Gladiators have gone 7-23 in the last three years – but Albert Sanchez went 10-2 there in 2012 and there was a time in the early 2000s that Gladstone owned the Montview. It’s not a bad spot for a young energetic coach. It will definitely take some work.
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El Rancho is still open as well. Doesn’t it seem like 5 years ago that ER was on the cusp of greatness before Vinnie Lopez stepped down? Long seasons, 1-9 last year, tend to do that to you. Nothing concrete yet but several “names” have applied. We should have something soon.
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Meanwhile the “Margarito Beltran to BG” thread is barreling towards 200 comments. We stopped counting the hits. If the Almont is blowing up in January can you imagine the firestorm in September?
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Yes I did jump back on the LA Rams bandwagon. Hey they left, I didn’t.
That’s my principle.
Tim can be reached at tim@midvalleysports.com or on Twitter @tspeterson40.
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