Crescenta Valley High found its new QB in a

Paul Schilling has taken over as soccer coach at Crescenta Valley High, and one of his first choices was turning operating back Julian Savery into a quarterback.

It’s not as if Savery, a 5-foot-11, 200-pound senior, was giving hints he needed to play quarterback last season. In fact, he missed all of 2025 because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered when he went up for a rebound and had his knee collapse enjoying pickup basketball at the YMCA on Valentine’s Day.

“I should have had a date,” Savery said.

Savery has always loved utilizing his measurement to run over tacklers. He last performed quarterback in eighth grade for flag soccer and determined to help himself recuperate quicker from his knee injury by working towards throwing a soccer when he couldn’t run. Schilling preferred what he noticed and gave him a probability in the spring. The Falcons are thrilled with his progress. He’s acquired velocity and a good arm.

Savery declared his basketball profession is over.

“Never again,” he said.

Birmingham seems for stability

City Section soccer shall be all about whether or not any staff can improve enough to problem defending champion Carson.

Birmingham once relied on offensive stability to be the City Section’s top soccer staff. Carson has surpassed the Patriots, but Birmingham is hoping to repair its passing sport this season.

The Patriots actually have one of their best group of receivers, led by Paul Turner, who has velocity and big-play means. He averaged 24.5 yards per catch as a junior. Hayden Schuler has transferred from Sierra Canyon. He ran the 100 meters in 10.93 seconds as a freshman. Nathan Chandler made heaps of progress as a freshman.

The possible starter at quarterback at the start of the season is junior Daniel Kakooza, but by season’s end, beware of freshman Exavier Johnson, whose father with the same first title was a standout quarterback at Birmingham and Taft.

The Patriots performed in the Saugus passing match last weekend, and coach Jim Rose said, “The passing attack already looks better than last season.”

Five former head coaches on Simi Valley workers

Former Thousand Oaks coach Bob Richards turns 84 in August and serves as an assistant at Simi Valley.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Bob Richards turns 84 in August. He has 9 grandchildren and continues to help out as an assistant coach at Simi Valley. He coached for 28 years at Thousand Oaks, including 12 as head coach until his “retirement” in 1995.

Simi Valley coach Jim Benkert has surrounded himself with 5 former head coaches on his workers — Richards, Dion Lambert (Granada Hills Kennedy), Richard Fong (L.A. Baptist), Justin Berenson (Buena) and Jason Sabolic (El Camino Real).

“It’s so much fun,” Sabolic said.

Run stopper

Gabe Degl’Innocenti of Hart High is a nostril deal with who has accomplished a 640-pound squat in the weight room.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

If groups need to run on Hart this season, they’ll have to get past 5-11, 260-pound Gabe Degl’Innocenti.

“He’s full of athleticism and is as strong as an ox,” coach Jake Goossen-Brown said.

He can squat 640 kilos, which places him on another degree in the weight room.

Sierra Canyon will play its first women’ flag soccer sport this fall in the fourth yr of the CIF-sanctioned sport. The Trailblazers are already armed with the best two returning gamers from Orange County transferring to the varsity.

Ava Irwin (2) celebrates with her teammates after catching two landing passes in JSerra’s 25-20 victory over Orange Lutheran for the Southern Section Division 1 flag soccer title on Nov. 8, 2025. (Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

(Steve Galluzzo)

Receiver Ava Irwin, the Southern Section Division 1 participant of the yr last season for Division 1 champion JSerra, and quarterback Makena Cook from runner-up Orange Lutheran have enrolled at Sierra Canyon, which employed Camarillo’s Michaeltore Smith as its first flag soccer coach.

Notes

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame has been in a position to persuade standout security and top athlete Tahj Skinner to play quarterback this season. He was operating performs on Saturday at the Simi Valley match. …

The Westlake receiving duo of Charles Davis and Demare Dezeurn, both dedicated to California, shall be troublesome to stop because you may’t double staff both. …

The Edison Battle at the Beach seven-on-seven passing match is scheduled for July 11 and has the best assortment of top groups of any summer season event, including St. John Bosco, Santa Margarita, Mission Viejo, Corona Centennial, Servite and Palos Verdes. There is no entry price but parking prices $20. In other phrases, discover a parking spot on the road. …

Paraclete quarterback Shawn Sanders, a switch from St. Francis, is also a top kicker with vary past 50 yards. He suffered two damaged collarbones last season. Call him the “Bionic Man” because that collarbone is so strong proper now without the help of surgical procedure. …

There have been two promising freshmen quarterbacks debuting at the Simi Valley match in backup roles — Hendrix Tucker of Westlake and West Dunton of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.