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.
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