Flintridge Prep One Win From Title

The Flintridge Prep football team thought it was getting exactly what it wanted when the Rebels defeated Templeton, 53-7, last Friday to advance to Saturday’s Southern Section Large Schools Division eight-man championship game.

However Flintridge Prep wasn’t expecting a date with Pasadena Poly, which advanced to the title game with a 15-12 upset of Rio Hondo Prep.

“The team that we’re going to be seeing Saturday is not the same team we saw earlier in the year,” said Flintridge Prep Coach Glen Beattie, who is in his fourth season with the Rebels.

Flintridge Prep, which defeated Poly, 27-6, earlier this season, knows the power of the revenge factor.

Earlier this season, Faith Baptist whipped Flintridge Prep, 23-6, then fell to the Rebels, 23-14, in the first round of the playoffs.

Saturday will mark Flintridge Prep’s second appearance in the championship game. The Rebels lost to Rio Hondo Prep, 39-8, in the 1973 final.

The game will be played at Flintridge Prep at 1 p.m.

Off and running: Oscar Perez of Pater Noster won the boys’ Southern Section 1-A Division cross-country title last weekend to qualify for the state championships Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Perez, a senior, covered the three-mile course at Mt. San Antonio College in 16 minutes, one second, to hold off St. Anthony juniors Geoff Janquart (16:06) and Andre Faubert (16:07). Pater Noster, which finished with 214 points in the 1-A final, advanced to the state meet as a team for the first time.

Senior Eliazar Herrera of Hoover fell just short in his attempt to become the school’s first Southern Section individual champion since Phil Anderson in 1962, but still qualified for the state meet with a third-place finish in the 4-A race at Mt. SAC. Herrera, a senior, clocked 15:15 and finished behind Canyon’s Dave Hartman (15:12) and Camarillo’s Abe Valdez (15:13).

Fast finish: James Moore of Glendale College finished 21st in the state community college cross-country finals last weekend in Fresno. Moore, a freshman from Verdugo Hills, covered the four-mile course in 20 minutes, 22 seconds.

Glendale’s Nicole Jiminez, a freshman from Burbank who was the Western State Conference champion, placed 26th in the women’s race, running the 5,000-meter course in 19:08.

Cold shot: After successfully weathering 90-degree heat in Santa Cruz two weeks ago in the NCAA Division III West regional, Laurie Schuster of Occidental got a cold welcome at the national championships last weekend at Rock Island, Ill.

Schuster, a junior, encountered 24-degree temperatures and finished 71st, covering the 5,000-meter course in 18:53.

Freshman Jose Garcia finished 132nd in the men’s race, clocking 26:13 over the five-mile course.

Over and out: With a loss to Santa Barbara in the first round of the Southern Section playoffs, the Crescenta Valley football team finished 6-5, the school’s best record in 12 seasons.

The Falcons, 6-1 at one point and ranked seventh in Division II, closed the season with four losses--three coming against teams ranked among the top four in the division.

“We rode a pretty nice train there for awhile at 6-1, which was way above and beyond what we expected to do,” Coach Jim Beckenhauer said. “We were just outmanned in those last games.”

The Falcons were overmatched by third-seeded Santa Barbara last Friday in a playoff game at Santa Barbara.

Crescenta Valley actually led, 7-0, after 3:20 when Falcon defensive back Colby Bogust plucked a bobbled pitch by Santa Barbara quarterback Pancho Renteria and ran 54 yards for a touchdown.

But the Dons, who scored 61 points against Oxnard in their regular-season finale, came back to score 44 unanswered points, assuming the lead seven seconds into the second half on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Renteria to Garrett Smith.

“They were bigger, stronger and faster,” Beckenhauer said. “That’s a bad combination to go against.

La Canada’s season also ended last Friday when the Spartans lost, 20-3, to Arroyo Grande in a first-round playoff game.

The Spartans’ only points came on a 29-yard field goal by Ross Allan with 8:32 left in the first half.

Playoff time: Franklin and Marshall opened play in the City Section football playoffs Wednesday night.

Franklin (9-1) met Huntington Park at Wilson High. Marshall (5-5) played Venice (10-0) at Venice.

Results were not available at press time.

Honor roll: Occidental linebacker David Hodges, a senior who helped lead the Tigers to the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship, was named SCIAC Defensive Player of the Year.

Hodges (6-foot-3, 210 pounds) was one of six Occidental players selected to the all-conference first team. Hodges had 55 tackles, three sacks and an interception for the Tigers, who finished 7-2.

Freshman running back Gary Little and senior linemen Roger Laubengayer and Pete Tucker were among 13 players selected to the first-team offense.

Hodges, junior defensive lineman Brady Dargan and junior linebacker Larry Schatz were named to the first-team defense.

Senior quarterback Tony Werbelow, junior wide receiver Rob Leinbach and senior lineman Sean O’Brien were selected to the second-team offense.

Senior lineman Tony Ferguson, sophomore defensive back Mike Bonetto and freshman defensive back Rick Mock were picked to the second-team defense.