Panthers

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE - Having been officially introduced to the long-standing rivalry between Flintridge Prep and Pasadena Poly, Lindsey Kelleher calmly took to the pool and promptly put on a goal-scoring clinic. It hardly took any time for the Pasadena Poly freshman girls' water polo player to get comfortable and put her accurate shot to work Friday afternoon. Kelleher, a utility player, scored the game's first six goals en route to leading visiting Pasadena Poly to a 21-5 Prep League victory against Flintridge Prep.

ARCADIA — Having played the Apaches already this season, the Pasadena Poly boys' tennis team entered Friday's CIF Southern Section Division II second-round match armed with some firsthand experience against unbeaten Arcadia High. In the end it served less as a scouting report and more as a tool of prediction, as the Panthers fell by an identical 12-6 score the second time around on the third-seeded Apaches' home courts. "We were missing a couple players today, but the kids who played very well," said Poly Coach Howie Farer, who was without two of his starting doubles players due to family commitments.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — For the first half, things couldn't have looked better for the members of the Renaissance Academy basketball team. With a 10-point lead and eyeing a return trip to the semifinals, Renaissance Coach Sid Cooke didn't rule out Pasadena Poly's experienced players having the ability to play better. Cooke was spot on with his assessment, while watching his team struggle on offense in the second half. Fifth-seeded Renaissance mustered just 17 second-half points and saw its season come to an end Tuesday night in a 55-51 home loss against fourth-seeded Pasadena Poly in a CIF Southern Section Division V-A quarterfinal contest.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — Whether he sat on the bench or paced while cradling his clipboard, Flintridge Prep girls' volleyball Coach Sean Beattie sensed something unusual. While piling up victories throughout the first several weeks of the season, Beattie watched the Rebels use a recipe of crisp passing and a tenacious defense to smother opponents. That formula disappeared Wednesday afternoon during Flintridge Prep's 25-13, 25-18, 25-18 Prep League home loss against rival Pasadena Poly.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE - Both the Flintridge Prep and Pasadena Poly swim teams walked away winners in Wednesday's Prep League Meet. The Rebels won 10 of the 11 events on the boys' side for a 98-72 victory, while the Panthers nabbed a 114-56 win on the girls' side. "I wasn't expecting us to do as well as we did, but we came out strong and I am really happy about that," Prep Coach Ryan Goto said. "It really pumps me up for swim meets we'll have in the future with Chadwick, which will be tough.

PASADENA — With the tacit threat of having its near two-decade long Prep League title streak snapped, the Pasadena Poly baseball team proved downright threatening Tuesday afternoon. The host Panthers won their 11th straight contest behind a 13-hit attack from their offense and tough pitching from ace Chris Ward in defeating Webb, 10-0, in six innings in league play. Poly (15-5 overall, 9-2 in league), ranked sixth in Division VI, is now tied with No. 4 Webb (19-4, 9-2) atop the league standings and can clinch its 17th straight league title and the league's top seed, via a 2-1 series victory over Webb, with a triumph Friday versus visiting Rio Hondo Prep at 3:30 p.m. "What you're seeing now is a team playing its best baseball," Pasadena Poly Coach Wayne Ellis said.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE - Even though it led comfortably throughout most of the game, the Flintridge Prep boys' basketball team didn't get its offense going strong until the fourth quarter of Friday night's Prep League rivalry showing with Pasadena Poly. That's more than the Panthers could say, as a solid defensive effort was undermined by offensive frustration from start to finish in a 51-34 Rebels win in the first meeting between the two teams that shared the league crown last season.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE - Pasadena Poly boys' volleyball Coach Mark Mina admitted his team probably showed up at Flintridge Prep expecting a Prep League sweep on Tuesday afternoon. The Panthers almost got one. Performed on them, that is, by a Rebels squad that became ever more fired up with wins in the first two games and taking the third down to the wire. Michael Saeta simply wouldn't allow Poly to go down, however, igniting a late rally to win the third game before going on to finish with 51 kills in his team's 21-25, 25-27, 25-20, 25-22, 15-13 win that lifted the Panthers into a tie for first place with Chadwick with two matches left in the season.

Edgar Melik-Stepanyan The Glendale YMCA Panther 13-year-old boys' basketball team has enjoyed its fair share of success this season. The Panthers won the Valley Conference title for the first time in 10 years and also captured the Lakewood Christmas Tournament championship in December. But Glendale's annual trip to the Las Vegas Nike Easter Classic didn't turn out as well. Glendale won its first game, but the distractions of Las Vegas got to the Panthers, who dropped their next three games.

GLENDALE - Flintridge Prep's baseball team needed a win against Pasadena Poly in the schools' final Prep League matchup of the year to take the season series for the first time in a long time and keep alive a slim chance of capturing a share of the league crown in a tight three-team race. Following two intentional walks to bring him up with the bases full in the bottom of the sixth inning, Rebels junior Daniel Enzminger blasted a two-run double that proved to be the difference in a 4-3 Rebels victory Friday afternoon at the Glendale Sports Complex.

PASADENA - While there were no major upsets at Thursday afternoon's Prep League swim meet at Pasadena Poly, there were still a few pleasant surprises. The Prep League-leading Rebels boys' team again flexed its muscles with a 125-45 victory, highlighted by a historic effort from junior Marco Flores, while the Panthers' girls rebounded from a loss a few days earlier in notching a 103-76 win. On a day filled with several CIF Southern Section Division III automatic qualifying marks, Flores stood out when he broke a six-year-old pool record when he swam to victory in the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 54.31 seconds.

LA CAÑADA - Flintridge Prep boys' volleyball Coach Sean Beattie expects success from his team this year. Considering the squad is a talented, senior-heavy bunch, why not? "We had been playing our best volleyball prior to spring break," Beattie said following the Rebels home match against Pasadena Poly on Tuesday. "Then we had that two week break. I think we slowed a little bit today. I don't think we played as well today as we did before spring break. " That's a frightening proposition considering how good Prep looked in dismissing Poly in straight sets 25-14, 25-19, 25-15.

LA CAÑADA - While half the Prep League was on spring break Thursday afternoon, the other half prepared for the second half of the season with a competitive league tri-league meet at La Cañada High that may have been more hotly contested than expected. In what may very well foreshadow a close Prep League championship later this season, the host Flintridge Prep boys defeated Pasadena Poly, 64-63, while the Panthers' girls exacted a measure of revenge by scoring 81 points in topping the Rebels (51)

NORTHEAST GLENDALE - Strictly based on definition, there is no winner in a tie. Yet, one side was relieved and the other annoyed after the Pasadena Poly girls' soccer team scored two second-half goals in forging a 3-3 deadlock versus bitter rival Flintridge Prep in Prep League play Monday afternoon at the Glendale Sports Complex. “I just told my girls that even though I thought we dug ourselves a really big hole in the first half with the number of mistakes we made in front of goal that I was proud of them for digging out of it in the second half,” Poly Coach Patrick Gray said.

The following are updates on area athletes at the collegiate level. Nick Dragovich (Crescenta Valley High, 2010) junior forward, Chapman University men's basketball : Dragovich has fit in nicely, providing depth off the bench for the Panthers. His latest body of work came Monday during a nonconference home game against Colorado College. Dragovich's contributions went a long way for Chapman. He finished with six points and four rebounds to help Chapman earn a 62-48 victory.

IRVINE - Pasadena Poly and Glendale High's clash for the CIF Southern Section Division V championship Saturday at the William J. Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine was a classic contrast of styles, one which the Panthers ultimately won, 12-10. But it wasn't until the final stretch of the back-and-forth match that Poly's streaking up-tempo style emerged as the victor over the Nitros' halfcourt forte. Glendale thrived this season, en route to the tournament's No. 1 seed, on a precision inside-out offense based on feeding hulking hole/set Arman Momdzhyan and relying on a supporting cast of sharpshooters when the primary option was denied.

PASADENA - A season of redemption just hit another level for the Flintridge Prep football team Saturday afternoon. The Rebels cashed in their feel-good status for one of league contender after knocking off host and traditional Prep League heavyweight Pasadena Poly, 46-33, at Babcock Field. With the victory, the surging Rebels (4-3 overall, 2-0 in league), winners of three straight, are one of two undefeated squads in league and face the other, reigning five-time champion Rio Hondo Prep (6-1, 2-0)