Flintridge Prep football gets back on track against Bell-Jeff
LA CAÑADA — Looking to get back to the win column, the Flintridge Prep football team focused on having constructive practices throughout the week leading up to Friday’s eight-man contest against Bellarmine-Jefferson.
After losing to Cate on Saturday, the Rebels went back to the basics and worked on tightening things up.
The preparation from the practices went a long way, as host Flintridge Prep scored on nine of its 10 possessions to register a 58-0 nonleague win.
“We had to get back to doing some things we know we’re capable of doing, like making the quick passes for short yardage and we wanted to have a good flow,” said Flintridge Prep second-year coach Russell White, who guided the Rebels to an appearance in the Division I semifinals last season. “We just needed to loosen up a bit and stay more relaxed.
“We went out and did some real good things and we were able to iron some things out. I thought we were real smooth when we had the ball and we were able to get a lot of different people involved.”
Flintridge Prep (3-2), which lost to Cate, 70-20, finished with five rushing touchdowns and two through the air. The Rebels also got a touchdown on special teams to further frustrate Bell-Jeff (0-3).
Alex Payne opened the scoring on a 21-yard run with 7:20 left in the first quarter to make it 7-0. Payne finished with 77 yards rushing in nine carries.
“I think we were that much more focused in practice,” said Payne, a sophomore. “We needed to have a good bounce-back game after what happened against Cate.
“I think we were able to operate very well on offense, starting on the first possession. Everything just seemed to flow and we were able to find some openings.”
Flintridge Prep quarterback John Lytle, a reigning All-Area selection, tossed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Ben Grable to make it 14-0 with 5:05 to go in the first quarter. An eight-yard touchdown run from Charlie McCormick gave the Rebels a 21-0 advantage with 1:44 remaining in the opening quarter.
Flintridge Prep’s Tommy Porter scored on a 49-yard punt return to make it 28-0 with 11:40 left in the second quarter. Lytle tossed a 12-yard touchdown pass to Will Gunter to give the Rebels a 35-0 lead with 6:26 to go.
A 24-yard field goal by Silas Chavez gave Flintridge Prep a 38-0 lead with 1:27 left in the first half.
Flintridge Prep continued to execute in the second half, receiving a 53-yard touchdown run from Nick Polen to make it 45-0 with 9:53 left in the third quarter. A 20-yard touchdown run by Evan Gi raised the lead to 51-0.
Flintridge Prep closed out the scoring with 5:04 left in the fourth quarter on a 13-yard run by McCormick.
Lytle completed six of seven passes for 73 yards in a game that featured a running clock throughout the second half.
Bell-Jeff finished with 26 yards of offense, including 17 yards rushing in seven carries from running back Chris Antee.
The Guards had three turnovers.
“We’ve had a tough week with some kids being sick and injured,” Bell-Jeff coach Fred Martinez said. “The adversity hit us a little bit from that.
“We faced a very good team in Flintridge Prep and we’re still developing. We’re still on that learning curve.
Bell-Jeff will travel to take on Crossroads Christian at 5 p.m. Friday and Flintridge Prep will be at home to take on Thacher at 7 Friday.
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
