Little Sage about the Lightning

Barry Faulkner

Tom Monarch pursued the Sage Hill High football coaching job

before the small private school opened in 2000 with dreams of

building a program from scratch. Two years later, he is still

relishing the task, though a largely inexperienced 30-player roster

has kept the learning curve closer to square one than the more

advanced stage more established schools, including all 10 scheduled

opponents, enjoy virtually two weeks before the season opener.

“As coaches, we have our work cut out for us,” Monarch said before

putting his team, about half of which is either new to organized

football, the school, or both, through the last of three conditioning

days Wednesday afternoon. “We have to prepare young kids to play

against varsity competition. It’s a lot different from teaching kids

who have years of youth football under their belts, or have learned

the fundamentals in a freshman program. There are some kids we’ll be

teaching how to take a three-point stance.”

Further, the Lightning will debut Sept. 13 against San Diego-based

visitor Midway Baptist, without the benefit of a scrimmage, after

plans to scrimmage another school fell through.

And, while the Lightning begin practicing in full gear today,

Monarch said he will delay full scrimmaging until Monday, to allow

his younger players to better grasp some of the game’s fundamentals.

On the positive side, Monarch has welcomed a handful of seniors,

the program’s first, who include returning quarterback and safety

Zach Friedrichs, fullback and middle linebacker Cliff Swenson and

tight end-defensive end-linebacker Scott Cho. Those standouts led the

Lightning junior varsity to a 6-2 record last fall, including a 5-0

Academy League mark to claim the league title.

The returners and the newcomers, including about 12 freshmen who

will be on the varsity -- some of whom will be required to sign

waivers of the CIF Southern Section’s minimum age requirement for

varsity competition (15) -- have been practicing once a day. They

will continue that schedule even before school starts Tuesday,

Monarch said.

With so many untested newcomers, Monarch said the formation of a

depth chart will continue right up until the Sept. 13 opener.

Monarch also said he expects at least the first two preleague

games to be used as a chemistry experiment, in regards to personnel.