Starting from scratch

Steve Virgen

The general expectation for the Sage Hill School football team is

that the Lightning will deal with a season of growing pains during

the fall. However, Coach Tom Monarch has been doing his best to ease

the maturation process during spring practice.

Monarch said the Lightning feature a sophomore class, including

Keya Manshadi, that will be the strength of the program for the next

three seasons. This year’s spring practice is all the more crucial

because of the youth on the squad. It will also be important for Sage

Hill’s seniors to discover their identity at this time.

During spring practice, Monarch is stressing mental strength and

attention to detail. The playbook will be introduced and players are

expected to become familiar with it quickly.

“We want to have a lot of learning because we are so young,”

Monarch said. “One area for learning is the weight room, which

involves strength and conditioning. Two is learning the offense and

defense. When August rolls around instead of kids worrying about

plays, we would rather focus on technique and hitting. I think they

progress a lot quicker if they are not worried about thinking too

much on the field.”

Sage Hill, in its second year of varsity competition, will have

some changes on offense, as Zach Friedrichs, last year’s quarterback,

will have graduated. Enter Eddie Huang. The senior-to-be is expected

to direct the offense, which will actually be run-oriented.

Ray Lim, who will be a senior in the fall, along with Manshadi

will be key factors as running backs.

“This is a very young team,” Monarch said. “I think we will

compete in the Academy League within the next two years.”

Monarch expects running plays to be come out of the I-back

formation. Because of the concentration on the run, the Lightning

players have also been diligently working in the weight room.

“We want to work on strength,” Monarch said.

Monarch has been with the program since it began two years ago. He

saw Sage Hill’s field when it was just dirt. He said he takes joy in

watching the team learn and improve from year to year.

Sage Hill’s spring practice has included 18 returnees. In addition, Steve Hingst is a new addition to Monarch’s staff. Hingst

is a former player at UC Berkeley and will be working with defense

for Sage Hill.