Prep League

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — It’s been a long time, longer than anyone in the Flintridge Prep boys’ tennis program can recall, since the Rebels won a match in the Prep League. Thus, when first-year Coach Ron Catano said before the season that his team’s goal was to win a league title, it appeared to be folly. But the Rebels grabbed their first league win in a very long time on Thursday afternoon and, in the process, showed their league title aspirations might not be so far off after all, as they dismantled Chadwick, 14-4, at Scholl Canyon in both teams’ league opener.

GLENDALE ? No more than a few minutes after a pair of his athletes completed their final rounds of the season Wednesday, veteran Flintridge Prep boys? golf Coach Bob Loughrie offered them a suggestion. Loughrie told sophomores Will Guthrie and Justin Farshidi to make plans to spend the next few months practicing and possibly entering junior tournaments so they can develop a clearer image of what it?s like to compete. A trio of Flintridge Prep athletes took part in the Prep League finals at Brookside Golf Course No. 2 in Pasadena on Wednesday.

GLENDALE — The Flintridge Prep girls’ basketball team fell short in its bid to capture the Prep League championship. The Rebels relied on a senior trio to help them grab second place and make a trip to the CIF Southern Section Division V-AA quarterfinals. For Flintridge Prep athletes Megan Musashi, Deanna Watson and Kelsey Merchant, each made valuable contributions to help the Rebels remain among the top teams in the league throughout the past four seasons. They concluded their final season in style, as each earned all-league honors after helping the Rebels go 22-7 and 10-2 in league.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — With the Prep League title on the line and nearly every game coming down to the wire, Friday evening’s boys’ volleyball match between host Flintridge Prep and Chadwick had the kind of charged atmosphere normally reserved for the playoffs. The playoffs will begin soon enough for the Rebels, who have just one match remaining in the regular season. And, despite taking a loss in four games on Friday, if they can carry the intensity they showed against the Dolphins into the postseason, their run may stretch well into May. Prep stole the first game and gave Chadwick, which clinched its second consecutive league title Friday, 23-25, 25-23, 27-25, 25-12, all it could handle over the next two before going quiet in the final stanza.

GLENDALE — You can add humility to the list of traits possessed by Flintridge Prep boys’ basketball player Edmund Chow, who was just named Most Valuable Player of the Prep League. “I wasn’t expecting [to get MVP], I thought Yatta or Jonathan deserved it more than I did,” Chow said of teammates Kenyatta Smith and Jonathan Woo, who were each named to the All-Prep League first team. Chow averaged 9.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.7 steals and a team-high 3.6 assists per game, but it’s more than just numbers that prompted Rebels Coach Garrett Ohara to identify the junior guard as the MVP of his own squad, which, unbeaten at 8-0, was far and away the best in the league.

GLENDALE ? Arguably the most improved football team in the area this year, Flintridge Prep bounced back from a 4-5 2006 campaign by finishing the 2007 campaign with seven wins. Nowhere were the strides made by the Rebels more evident than in Prep League play, in which the team went 4-1 for second place, contended for a league title up until the final week of the regular season and returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2005. The Rebels were well-represented in the All-Prep League voting, landing four players on the defensive first team and three more on the offensive first team.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — While it is considered to be only a precursor to league finals, Thursday's third and final Prep League meet proved that the Flintridge Prep track and field teams are peaking at the right time. Competing against other Prep League schools at La Cañada High, the Rebels boys took first place with 109 points, with the girls finishing in second with 104 points. "I'm very pleased," Flintridge Prep Coach Kenny Fisher. "The kids worked hard." In the winning effort, the boys received strong performances all the way across the board, highlighted by the efforts of Jeffrey Nieh.

GLENDALE ? At first glance at its record, the Flintridge Prep football team?s 2-5 mark indicates it?s still struggling. But after an 0-3 start to the season, the Rebels find themselves tied for first place in the Prep League and amid a bye-week that comes at a perfect time. ?At 2-1 [in league], we?re in a position where we can control our own destiny,? said second-year Flintridge Prep Coach Perry Skaggs, the reigning All-Area Coach of the Year. ?We?re actually quite lucky that a quirk in our schedule gives us a bye-week in Week Eight.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — In the gauntlet that is the Prep League boys' water polo schedule, Flintridge Prep was given a respite on Tuesday. That respite came in the form of a league-winless Webb School. "It's nice to be able to have a game, but be able to relax and not be so stressed," said Flintridge Prep Coach Adam Branson after his Rebels easily dispatched the visiting Gaels, 24-7, in a Prep League match. Only a brief battle with being too excited at the onset slowed up Flintridge Prep (18-9, 4-3)

GLENDALE — Competitive throughout its 2009 Prep League campaign, the Flintridge Prep football team stayed in the hunt for a playoff berth up until its final game of the season. And, while the Rebels came just short of making that goal, snapping a two-year streak of Northeast Division postseason appearances, their effort was acknowledged by the league’s coaches, who voted several players to the All-Prep League team. Senior inside linebacker Connor Dubin garnered first-team defensive honors, while four other Rebels landed second-team spots.