Flintridge Prep football overcomes sloppy first half to stay undefeated

TARZANA — After blowing out its opponents in its first three games of the season, the Flintridge Prep football team found itself in a battle in its fourth contest Friday evening.

That is, at least, in the first half.

The Rebels committed three fumbles that Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies turned into two touchdowns in the second quarter. Flintridge Prep fell behind early in the game and held just a 10-point lead after two quarters, staying in the game mainly due to the play of its defense.

Fortunately for the Rebels, they were able to shore things up in the second half and, behind a fine effort from quarterback John Lytle that that translated into six touchdown passes, Flintridge Prep went on to earn a 56-34 nonleague eight-man victory against the host Knights.

The win keeps the Rebels – ranked No. 2 in CIF Southern Section eight-man Division I – undefeated at 4-0.

“I tip my hat to SOCES, this is the kind of game we’ve been looking for all season,” Rebels Coach Russell White said. “It was a fight, it was a battle and they were physical and it was great. I was happy that we were down and we were facing some adversity. This is when we find out what we have with this team. We don’t want to find this out in the playoffs.

“Those three fumbles that we had in the first half is more than we had all season. No head coach likes fumbles, that’s the enemy. I was sad to see it happen, but again, it was a test; what are you going to do about it?”

Lytle was able to step up and lead the Flintridge Prep offense against the Knights (4-1). The sophomore completed 14 of 27 passes for 271 yards and six touchdowns (13, 65, 25, 36, 18 and 39 yards) against one interception.

He had a good target in senior Beau Detchemendy, who hauled in eight catches for 179 yards and five touchdowns. Senior Kendall Kikkawa had the other touchdown reception.

“This was good to play a full game because our other games we played with a running clock because we were so much ahead,” Lytle said. “In those games, we really didn’t get the experience that we needed. By the end of this one, we were able to get rolling.”

Kikkawa also had 14 carries for 86 yards and a touchdown and senior Danny Chairodit carried the ball 11 times for 75 yards and one score.

Even defensive lineman Michael Egan, a junior, got into the scoring for Prep, recovering a fumble and running it in for a 12-yard score.

After the Rebels took an 8-0 lead in the first quarter, fumbles proved costly. SOCES took the two takeaways and scored two touchdowns to take a 12-8 lead with 5:47 left in the second.

Flintridge Prep was able to keep things close in the early going after two crucial defensive stands. One led to the Knights turning the ball over on downs at the Rebels’ 19-yard line, and the other pushed SOCES back on a fourth-and-goal situation on the one-foot line. Again, the Rebels were able to take over on downs.

“That defense really kept us in it in the first half,” White said.

The Rebels rebounded late in the first half and went into the break with a 22-12 lead.

Flintridge Prep came on in the second half, increasing its lead to 50-26 with 6:32 left in the contest.