Rebels suffer home defeat
LOS ANGELES — With barely enough players to field a team, Flintridge Prep football Coach Antonio Harrison hasn’t lost his patience.
Trying to keep them healthy is another matter.
“I’ve got 19 guys, now 17, on the varsity roster,” Harrison said after Flintridge Prep suffered a 49-13 nonleague loss against St. Genevieve on Friday night at Occidental College. “We have to go back to the drawing board.”
Flintridge Prep (1-1) competed without starting wide receiver and running back Chris Wirthlin, who suffered a right knee injury during the Rebels’ 12-8 win against Bellarmine-Jefferson on Sept. 2.
His absence was felt Friday by the undermanned Rebels against the deep Valiants (2-0). It wasn’t clear when Wirthlin, who scored the winning touchdown for the Rebels in their opener, would return.
Prep had difficulty stopping St. Genevieve running back Anthony Blue, who rushed for 181 yards and three touchdowns in 17 carries.
Things started off well for the Rebels. On the game’s second play, Flintridge Prep quarterback Clayton Weirick connected on a 68-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Stefan Smith to make it 6-0 with 11:06 left in the first quarter.
The lead lasted 40 seconds, as Blue scored on a 14-yard touchdown run to knot the contest at 6. St. Genevieve took a 9-6 lead on a 33-yard field goal by Josh Fuglshang with 5:37 left in the opening quarter. Fuglshang then connected on a 26-yard field goal to extend the Valiants lead to 12-6 with 3:17 remaining in the first quarter.
With Flintridge Prep forced to punt from its three-yard line, St. Genevieve’s Linwood Foy blocked the punt. Teammate Mark Chin skipped up the loose ball on the eight-yard line and ran it in for a touchdown to extend the lead to 18-6 with 1:06 left in the opening quarter.
Following a Flintridge Prep fumble on its own 12, Blue scored on a 12-yard run to make it 24-6 with 42 seconds left in the first stanza.
Another Flintridge Prep turnover led to a St. Genevieve touchdown with 3:29 left in the second quarter. Foy stripped Weirick in the end zone and recovered the ball for a touchdown to make it 30-6.
A Chin 19-yard touchdown run made it 37-6 with 5:57 left in the third quarter, but Flintridge Prep received a 59-yard touchdown pass from Weirick to Smith to close to within 37-12.
St. Genevieve got a 72-yard touchdown pass from Chin to AJ Olivas in the third quarter to give the Valiants a 43-13 lead and Blue closed out the scoring on a 66-yard touchdown run with 2:06 remaining in the third quarter.
