Flintridge Prep football stumbles out of league gates against Pasadena Poly
LA CAÑADA — With the Prep League football membership down to just four teams, each game has become hyper-important, a notion not lost on Flintridge Prep Rebels as it opened league play against Pasadena Poly.
On Saturday night at La Cañada High, the Rebels hosted the Panthers and suffered a bitter loss, 34-7, to the defending champions in both schools’ league opener.
“It’s hard,” Rebels Coach Glen Beattie said. “I thought this was a must-win game. It is going to be tough for the rest of the year.”
Flintridge Prep (2-6, 0-1) was shut out in the first half and trailed, 19-0, at the break. In the second half, Pasadena Poly (5-3, 1-0) dominated time of possession, muting any hopes of a comeback, limiting the hosts to just three second-half possessions, the final one coming with under a minute to play.
“It was a tough loss to take,” Beattie said. “The kids wanted to win. I wanted to win. Everybody wanted to win. It just wasn’t in the cards.”
Although the Panthers did not score in the third period, they did twice prolong their two drives by converting fourth downs on runs by receiver/punter Timothy Matthiessen. The first was a fake punt run for 32 yards and the second a direct snap that got just the one yard needed to retain possession.
On the Rebels’ only possession of the third quarter, the offense did finally get traction, going 84 yards in seven plays for their only score of the contest. On the drive, quarterback Andrew Tsangeos threw a high arcing pass that dropped into the arms of Robbie Leslie for a 35-yard gain. On the next play, Tsangeos ran the ball for 17 more yards. Soon after, Tsangeos found the end zone on an eight-yard scramble.
“It was supposed to be a play-action play, I was thinking run the entire way. I knew they were going to have it covered,” Tsangeos said. “So I rolled out right, there was one guy there. I stiff-armed him, kept moving, then there was one guy left. I thought about diving but then I thought, ‘I am bigger than him, so I’m going to lower my shoulder and I’m going to get our team a touchdown.’”
However, after the Rebels score with 2:39 left in the third, Pasadena Poly went on two long scoring drives sandwiched around a Flintridge Prep punt after a three-and-out series. The first score was a 13-yard run by Panthers quarterback John Genske. The second was a seven-yard run by Graham Olson, who was one of 11 ball carriers employed by Poly. Genske finished 16 of 22 for 225 yards and two scores that came on back-to-back throws in the second quarter.
“The big question from my guys was ‘Why do you punt the ball?’ Well, we’ve got to stop them at some point, right?” Beattie said. “So that is what we needed. We needed a stop and we didn’t get it.”
Tsangeos finished 13 of 25 for 201 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. Aldridge Khin was the leading receiver for the Rebels, hauling in six passes for 128 yards, although the last 38 of those came on the final play of the game that saw Khin limp off after being tackled with zeros on the clock.
Flintridge Prep had a strong opening drive to start the game, but came away empty. After nine plays, the hosts turned the ball over on downs still 25 yards away from the end zone. Poly then drove the field and scored 11 plays later on a run by sophomore Christian Henderson.
“We had a good first drive, but we couldn’t punch it in and I think that hurt us,” Tsangeos said.
Up next for Flintridge Prep is a road game at Rio Hondo Prep on Friday.
“This is where we had directed our entire season to was this game, to make sure we went into the Prep League [with a win],” Beattie said. “We had a stumble and it is unfortunate it came tonight.”