Eagles rough up Sage Hill

Bryce Alderton

With his team huddled in the middle of the field at Laguna High

Friday night, Tom Monarch told his Sage Hill Lightning how proud he

was of the way they fought.

“You freshman will remember this night. I still think you played

your best game of the year so far,” said Monarch after Sage Hill

(3-3) dropped their varsity Academy League opener to Capistrano

Valley Christian, 35-0.

“They have a very good front line (on offense and defense),”

Monarch said of the Eagles (3-3), who pressured Lightning quarterback

Zach Friedrichs all night, sacking him eight times for 63 yards.

Offensively, the Eagles’ line created massive holes for backs Mike

Bialik and Kory Nielsen to run rampant, and they did.

Nielsen carried 18 times for 116 yards and Bialik had seven

carries for 126 yards, scoring on touchdown runs of 53 and 29 yards.

“Give Capo Valley credit,” Monarch said, “They know how to lock

down when in the red zone.”

Turnovers again bit Sage Hill. The Lightning committed three, one

interception and two fumbles.

The second fumble came after Friedrichs completed a 5-yard pass at

the Eagle 31 with 7:00 minutes left in the first half and the

Lightning trailing, 12-0. Sophomore lineman Curt Rollinson put the

hit on the Sage Hill receiver, causing the ball to come loose and the

Eagles recovered. They went 66 yards on four plays, the big one

coming on a pitch to Peter St. John, who broke through the Lightning

defense and scampered down the sideline before Sage Hill’s Erik

Williams tackled him at the 17.

A 10-yard run by Bialik set up quarterback Jeremy Ward’s 6-yard

pass to Karl Hodel. Eric Schlegel ran in the two-point conversion and

the Eagles had a 20-0 lead at halftime.

With the Eagles stuffing Sage Hill’s ground game, the Lightning

had to revert to the passing game in the second half.

But after completing 10 of 15 passes in the first half, Friedrichs

only completed three of his next 22, scrambling to avoid the

pressuring Eagles’ defense. He finished the night 13 of 37 for 231 yards and one interception.

When Friedrichs did get a chance to release the ball, he connected

for large gains to Keya Manshadi for 43 yards, Patrick Smith for 27

yards and Eddie Huang for 33 and 30 yards.

The Lightning turned the ball over on downs twice in the second

half and punted twice, getting as close as the Eagle 12 to start the

fourth quarter after a 15-play, 65-yard drive only to have an

incompletion on fourth down.

“Zach was playing with 1 1/2 legs,” Monarch said of Friedrichs

thigh injury he’s been nursing. “He’s such a gamer.”

Williams led the Lightning with 23 yards on seven carries and

caught four balls for 58 yards. Manshadi led the Lightning with five

catches for 85 yards while Huang had four catches for 73 yards. Smith

had one reception for 27 yards and Scott Cho caught one ball for 17

yards.

On Sage Hill’s first play from scrimmage, Friedrichs lateraled to

Williams, who threw 33 yards to Huang.