Sage Hill bounces back to smother Fairmont, 27-0

Richard Dunn

CERRITOS -- Halfway through its first varsity football season,

Sage Hill School has a winning record and now its first shutout.

It also had senior Erik Williams completely healthy for the first

time Saturday night as the visiting Lightning dismantled Fairmont

Prep of Anaheim, 27-0, in a nonleague game at Valley Christian High.

On the heels of back-to-back setbacks, the victory pushed Sage

Hill (3-2) over the .500 mark as it prepares to open Academy League

play Friday against powerful Capistrano Valley Christian.

“I think (the win) is huge. It’s definitely the medicine we

needed,” Sage Hill Coach Tom Monarch said. “The kids were OK (after

losing to Calvary Chapel of Murietta and Saddleback Valley Christian,

committing four turnovers in each game). But winning is a lot better

than what any coach can tell you.”

Williams, a 6-foot, 185-pound wide receiver and linebacker who’d

been nursing a groin pull, rushed 14 times for 114 yards, caught two

passes for 25 yards, including a 14-yard touchdown, and threw a

30-yard completion out of a halfback option, not to mention his

stellar play on defense.

“(Williams) had a great game and it was nice to see him at 100%,”

Monarch said. “He’s a talented kid who can cover the whole field.”

Sage Hill quarterback Zach Friedrichs (6-2, 185), who provided

several big stops on defense, completed 7 of 18 passes for 88 yards,

two touchdowns and one interception, while bulldozing 6-2, 230-pound

senior fullback Cliff Swanson carried for 75 yards and a pair of

touchdowns on 11 attempts for the Lightning, ranked No. 9 in CIF

Southern Section Division XIII.

Fairmont opened the game with the ball and punted after three

downs, and Sage Hill responded with a quick scoring drive, keyed by

Williams’ 38-yard run and capped by Swanson’s 5-yard touchdown run.

“The key for our team is that we have to jump on people early,

before teams can key on our offense,” Monarch said. “And our opponent

has scored on the first two series in each of the past two games, and

we wanted to stop that (streak). But I didn’t expect a shutout.”

After Sage Hill’s Scott Cho blocked a Fairmont punt, Sage Hill

took over at the Huskies’ 40 with 3:28 left in the first quarter and

the Lightning scored again to build a 14-0 lead. Keyed by Swanson’s

27-yard carry, the drive was crowned by a Swanson 9-yard touchdown

run, in which he bounced off two Fairmont defenders before reaching

the end zone with 1:38 on the clock.

After the second quarter was marred by turnovers, Sage Hill scored

again in the third quarter on its second play in a series as

Friedrichs connected with Keya Manshadi on a 38-yard touchdown pass.

Manshadi caught a screen pass at the 35 and ran it in.

Prior to the touchdown, Sage Hill fumbled on its previous series

inside the Fairmont 10-yard line and the Huskies (1-4) recovered.

Sage Hill’s defense, however, stuffed the Huskies, beginning with a

tackle for a 2-yard loss by Nick Sohl, and forced the hosts to punt.

Monarch said that defensive stop was the game’s turning point.

“(The Huskies) could have scored and made it a one-touchdown game,

but we stuffed them -- including a couple of times for losses --

and they punted,” Monarch said.

An interception by Sage Hill’s Manshadi and 20-yard return late in

the third quarter set up the Lightning’s fourth and final touchdown

on the first play of the fourth quarter, as Williams made a nice

over-the-shoulder catch on a 14-yard scoring toss from Friedrichs,

who added the PAT to give Sage Hill its margin of victory and ruin

Fairmont’s homecoming.