NOTEBOOK : Flintridge Prep’s Win Ends Eight-Year Drought

The Flintridge Prep football team ended eight years of frustration last week when the Rebels defeated Pasadena Poly, 27-6, in a Prep League game.

Flintridge Prep, which usually features a pass-happy attack led by quarterback Chris Bisgaard and David Swayne, scored its first win over Pasadena Poly since 1980 by rolling up 250 rushing yards.

Tailback Lyle Mays gained a game-high 127 yards in 14 carries while fullback David Park added 92 yards in 19 carries.

A Flintridge Prep win over Chadwick on Friday would guarantee the Rebels a spot in the Southern Section eight-man playoffs.

Perfect season: Occidental’s Laurie Schuster finished the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference cross-country season unbeaten, winning the 5,000-meter SCIAC championship race in 18 minutes, 44 seconds last Saturday at La Mirada Park.

Schuster, a junior, beat her nearest competitor by more than a minute.

The win qualified Schuster for the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division III West Regionals at Santa Cruz on Nov. 11.

The Occidental women’s team, which was third overall in the SCIAC championships, tied Claremont and Pomona for the conference title.

Getting his kicks: Former La Canada High punter Rob Myers is kicking up a storm for Washington State.

Myers, 21, is averaging 44.8 yards a punt for the Cougars, which ranks the senior second in the Pacific-10 Conference and fourth nationally.

Armed forces: Franklin High quarterback Santiago Alvarez continued his dream season last Friday, completing 26 of 36 passes for 361 yards and six touchdowns during the Panthers’ 44-0 win over Hollywood.

Alvarez has completed 168 of 273 passes this season for 2,111 yards and 28 touchdowns while throwing just six interceptions.

“He’s doing everything we could have asked of him,” Franklin Coach Armando Gonzalez said. “There isn’t a better passer in the City.”

Franklin (6-1 overall) has outscored opponents, 260-28. The Panthers are tied with Wilson for the Northern Conference lead with a 4-0 league record.

Add Panther passers: Former Franklin High standout Ronnie Lopez has also been passing for big yardage since becoming the starter at Glendale College three games ago.

Lopez completed 11 of 16 attempts for 238 yards and three touchdowns last Saturday during the Vaqueros’ 62-26 rout of Harbor.

Lopez has completed 45 of 83 passes for 809 yards and seven touchdowns this season. He has thrown three interceptions.

On the run: For the first time in school history, three Glendale College running backs each rushed for more than 100 yards in one game.

In the Vaqueros’ win over Harbor, tailback Sean Hampton had a game-high 146 yards while tailback Doug Dragomer rushed for 110 yards and fullback Wes Bender added 103 yards and four touchdowns.

Tighten up: Glendale’s victory over Harbor pleased Coach John Cicuto, but he had no defense for a defensive unit that surrendered 26 points to a team that had been shut out three times this season.

“Our defense is struggling with peaks and valleys,” Cicuto said. “They play hard, but mentally they break down and it kind of puts us into a bind.

“We can’t rely on our offense to score 40 or 50 points a game. It’s just not going to happen against the good teams.”

A team, for example, like Moorpark.

Glendale (4-2-1 overall, 3-1-1 in Western State Conference play) travels to Moorpark this Saturday for a game against the Raiders, who boast the top defense in the state.

On the rebound: Unlike Glendale, Occidental had no problems with consistency last Saturday against Whittier.

The Tigers played poorly from start to finish in a 26-16 loss.

“They didn’t do anything we weren’t prepared for, we just didn’t play very well,” Occidental Coach Dale Widolff said.

“We tackled terribly, probably the worst we’ve ever had.”

Occidental (5-2 overall, 3-1 in SCIAC play) meets Redlands (4-3, 4-0) at home on Saturday.

Occidental can guarantee itself a share of the SCIAC championship by defeating the Bulldogs.