Attitude is everything for Lightning
Patrick Laverty
Sage Hill School football coach Tom Monarch doesn’t need to tell his
players how difficult the final two games of the regular season are
going to be.
If they didn’t know already, the Lightning are well aware of what
type of opponents they face in the Academy League after last week’s
53-0 loss to St. Margaret’s.
“The coaches and the kids have prepped themselves for this all
season,” Monarch said. “The kids are well aware of the talent that
they face.”
Because of that preparation, Monarch said the Lightning (1-6, 0-1
in league) continue to take great attitudes into Saturday’s 1 p.m.
home game against Capistrano Valley Christian (4-3-1, 1-0).
The Eagles are coming off a 40-16 victory over Brethren Christian
and present another daunting task for the youthful Lightning.
Capistrano Valley Christian has a balanced attack that averages
143 yards per game rushing, led by Peter St. John (322 yards), and
129 yards per game passing with Jeremy Ward lined up under center.
Sage Hill will counter with a freshman quarterback, Braden Ross,
and the speedy backfield duo of sophomore Keya Manshadi and Eddie
Huang. The latter leads the team with 256 yards rushing and will also
line up quarterback at times, running the option.
“We just want to keep it simple, do some clock management,”
Monarch said. “We’ll try to establish our running game, maybe with
counters, using Keya and Eddie in the backfield.”
The key for Monarch these next two weeks is maintaining the
enjoyment of the game for his young players despite the difficult
schedule ahead.
“Our goal is to keep it positive at practice these next two weeks
and make it as enjoyable as possible,” Monarch said.
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