Crescenta Valley Wins Behind Rare Pitch From Miller

Brett Miller spends most of his time catching passes for the Crescenta Valley High football team. But Thursday night, he found himself throwing one, a 21-yard scoring strike to Ray Grijalva that gave the Falcons a come-from-behind, 7-6 victory over Burroughs in a nonleague game at Glendale High.

The scoring play, which came with 56 seconds left in the third quarter, capped a nine-play, 65-yard drive and followed Burroughs’ only score of the game. Quarterback Aaron Schaefer pitched the ball to running back Jason Schwaiger, who flipped it to Miller coming around on a reverse. Miller, the Falcons’ leading receiver, then hit Grijalva, who had to come back for the ball on the one-yard line. Grijalva took it in from there for the score.

Eric Steinlight’s point-after was the margin of victory.

“It was a shot in the dark,” Crescenta Valley Coach Jim Beckenhauer said. “Burroughs was playing tough defense and we had to make something happen. We had to use a gimmick to beat them tonight.”

Burroughs (0-5) had taken the lead when Steve Garza scored on a seven-yard run with 6 minutes 23 seconds left in the third quarter. The touchdown was set up when Marco Cecena intercepted a Schaefer pass at the Crescenta Valley 32. Eddie Gavilan missed the conversion kick.

Crescenta Valley is 3-2.