Getting comfortable

As a sweltering August day burns into the afternoon outside, Flintridge Prep Coach Brad Miller sits comfortably inside an air-conditioned classroom.

On each side of him are Rebels assistants Glenn Beattie and Perry Skaggs. The trio is engorged in practice film.

It's a practice Miller is fast becoming known for, it's an area of preparation he's comfortable with.

And now, in his second year at the Rebels helm, Miller finds himself comfortable in what had not that long ago been unfamiliar surroundings.

"I'm not sure at this time last year that I even had all the right keys for all the classrooms," said Miller, whose rookie season on the Flintridge Prep sideline saw a 4-5 campaign and a first-round exit in the CIF Southern Section Division XIII playoffs.

As Miller finds himself in a more comfortable position, so too does his team.

After the Rebels failed to make the postseason for the first time in more than a decade, they found themselves a playoff spot in 2005. It's a spot and an identity, as a playoff team, that Flintridge Prep is clearly ready to embrace.

"It's critical to the energy and the enthusiasm of this program," said Miller, whose team returns to a Prep League that has boasted finalists in each of the last four CIF Southern Section Division XIII title games. "We have to have an institutional memory of that's what we do here, we go to the playoffs."

It's an outlook that's quickly becoming part of the team's identity.

"I don't think anyone on this team thinks the playoffs aren't in the future," said senior running back Zach Goldstein, who led the Rebels with 705 yards rushing in 2005. "[Making the playoffs is] expected."

Expectation this year comes due to a solid core of seniors and the maturation of a junior varsity squad that went 7-0-1 a season ago.

Offensively, Goldstein and senior signal-caller Joe Farewell return as starters in the backfield, right along with senior Alex Clayton — the team's only All-CIF selection last year — who will do a little bit of everything.

Clayton will return kicks, play cornerback or safety and wide receiver, while also getting a fair share of carries. Farewell threw for just over 700 yards last season, but the offense looks to shape into a more balanced scheme this time around.

"I believe we're going to be very balanced," Farewell said.

Added Miller: "I think we'll be a lot more trouble to prepare for."