Sage Hill falls to St. Anthony

Bryce Alderton

Rain fell steadily Friday night at Clark Field in Long Beach, but

the rain didn’t just dampen the grass.

The St. Anthony High Saints (1-8) dampened Sage Hill’s hopes for a

nonleague win in shutout fashion, 22-0, for the Saints’ first win in

17 games.

Saints players dumped the celebratory Gatorade shower on Coach

Uiva Tuliau as time ticked away, while the Lightning was left out in

the cold.

“(Erik Williams’) run off tackle in the first quarter that got

called back, along with a blocked punt for their touchdown, did us

in,” said Lightning Coach Tom Monarch. “In a game like this they got

the breaks they needed to win the game.”

Williams would-be touchdown scamper of 29 yards was called back

because of a Lightning holding call resulting in a 2-yard gain that

preceded Eugene Gandia’s 48-yard interception return on the next

play.

The Saints got their first touchdown on a blocked punt, recovered

by Luis Bosque, when the Lightning tried to punt from their own 20 in

the third quarter.

A Zach Friedrichs pass to Williams that would have been a first

down set up the punt St. Anthony blocked for a touchdown.

As the rain intensified in the second half, the dropped ball

increased for Sage Hill (3-6) as Friedrichs only completed 3 passes

for 57 yards in the final two quarters, compared to 4 completions on

8 attempts for 61 yards in the first half.

“We’re a passing team, so the weather favored them, not us,”

Monarch said. “Friedrichs had time to throw, the offensive line of

four freshman did an outstanding job.”

Cliff Swanson and Scott Cho were in on numerous tackles. Cho had a

six-yard sack and stopped running back Lee Howard for a 10-yard loss

to set up a Saint punt in the second quarter.

But Howard eventually got the best of the Lightning defense,

gaining 38 of his 62 yards in the second half, putting the game out

of reach with a 9-yard TD scamper with 9:08 left to play.