Complete schedule makeover for Flintridge Prep football

Nearly everything will be different for the Flintridge Prep football team in 2016 and that includes the squad’s schedule.

The Rebels will have a slate of nine new opponents due to the program’s drop to eight-man football and its subsequent move from the Prep League to freelance status.

“It’s all new teams that we’re going to have to learn,” new Flintridge Prep Coach Russell White said. “I haven’t been in the area for a while, so I’m unfamiliar with most teams, but we’ll know who they are before we face them.”

In terms of wins and losses, the Rebels face nine teams that combined for a 44-37 mark (.543 winning percentage). Six of those squads posted winning records and advanced to the playoffs.

The quest starts with immediate challenges for Flintridge Prep, which will break in new Memorial Field on campus with a scrimmage versus Laguna Blanca on Aug. 19.

Following that, Flintridge Prep will play on eight Fridays with the lone non-Friday contest taking place on Saturday, Oct. 22.

Before then, the Rebels open their season at Van Nuys Fulton Prep on Aug. 26 at 7 p.m.

Fulton Prep finished 7-4 and advanced to the championship game of the Los Angeles City Section eight-man division last year.

“Some of these teams I’ve heard of back when I coached eight-man football back (in the mid-2000s),” said White, who won two CIF titles at Desert Chapel High. “Other teams are new or they’re programs that became eight-man teams like Flintridge Prep.”

After that challenging opener, it doesn’t get easier as the Rebels commence their home schedule on Sept. 2 at 7 p.m. versus Westmark, which was 6-3 last year and advanced to the postseason.

“I think that will be exciting, playing a home game,” Flintridge Prep senior lineman Warren Hosseinion said. “All our home games were actually on the road, so to be on campus will be great.”

If there’s a break for Flintridge Prep, perhaps it takes place over the next three weeks as the Rebels will face consecutive squads with sub-.500 records.

The first of those teams is nearby Ribet Academy, which will host Flintridge Prep on Sept. 9 at 7:15 p.m.

In more plentiful times, the Rebels defeated the Fighting Frogs, 34-28, in the first round of the 2012 CIF Southern Section Northeast Division playoffs, which marked the Rebels’ last playoff win.

Ribet Academy finished 3-5 last season and did not reach the playoffs.

After Ribet, the Rebels have a scheduled bye before taking on the area’s only other eight-man football team, Bellarmine-Jefferson, at home on Sept. 23 at 7 p.m.

The Guards were 0-7 last season in the first year of reinstated football at the Burbank-based school.

Following the Bell-Jeff contest, the Rebels will have an afternoon road affair at 3 on Sept. 30 against Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, which finished 3-6 in 2015.

The three-game swing versus perhaps the three most beatable teams on the schedule ends with a bang as the Rebels’ final four opponents were all playoff teams a year ago.

Perhaps the most impressive is Cate, which Flintridge Prep will host at 7 p.m. on Oct. 7.

The Rams won the Condor League and advanced to the eight-man Southern Section Division I semifinals.

Flintridge Prep is again at home on Oct. 14 and will host Downey Calvary Chapel, a 5-3 team a year ago, at 7 p.m.

The only Saturday game of the year follows as the Rebels head to Ojai Thacher (6-4) on Oct. 22 at 2:30 p.m.

“Because of the distance, I really only think that game is doable on a Saturday,” White said. “It’s not something you can make on a Friday.”

In an interesting twist, the Rebels will finish off the regular season against an old foe in former Prep League rival Chadwick (5-4) on Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. at home.

The longtime rivals used to play annually until Chadwick dropped to eight-man football and left the Prep League after the conclusion of the 2013 season. In the team’s last meeting, Chadwick defeated Flintridge Prep, 31-8.