Sage Hill seniors stand out

Barry Faulkner

The start wasn’t exactly as planned, but the finish was enough to

leave smiles on the faces of Sage Hill School football players and

coaches following Thursday’s 49-14 Academy League loss to visiting

Brethren Christian.

The finish Sage Hill’s Ray Lim and Marcel Sohl, two of the

Lightning’s five seniors, will talk about for years involved the

team’s final offensive play, a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Lim with 36

seconds left.

The game’s final TD and the last carry of Lim’s prep career, was a

well-executed dive, aimed off the left hip of Sohl, the team’s left

guard and two-way star lineman.

Sage Hill (1-8, 0-3 in league) called timeout after sophomore Keya

Manshadi sliced 9 yards to the 1.

“I was very happy that Ray scored that touchdown,” said Lightning

Coach Tom Monarch, who called the play in the huddle during the

timeout, specifically requesting Lim to run behind Sohl’s block.

“I told [Lim] in the huddle, this is what you talk about around

the supper table 25 years from now,” Monarch said. “Marcel blew the

guy out, like he had been blowing his guy off the ball all day long.”

Lim, a 5-foot-10, 190-pound fullback-linebacker, finished with a

team-leading 74 rushing yards on 19 carries. He also sparkled

defensively, as did Sohl who made one of the hosts’ four sacks and

was consistently the end of the line for Brethren ball carriers.

“Marcel came with the intensity of a champion today,” Monarch

said. “And Ray Lim epitomizes this team.”

Monarch also praised the play of senior defensive lineman Peter

Haderlein, who was in on two sacks, including one solo collar.

Senior tailback Eddie Huang rushed fro 33 yards on six carries on

the Lightning’s first possession, which he capped with a 1-yard

scoring run with 6:26 left. The first of two Amy Werblin conversion

kicks pulled the Lightning within 14-7.

Huang, however, injured his right shoulder two plays after the

ensuing kickoff and watched the rest of the game from the sideline.

Manshadi, a receiver who replaced Huang at tailback, rushed for 72

yards on 17 carries, including a 46-yard burst on an end around that

set up the first touchdown. He also had two receptions for 37 yards.

Brethren Christian (3-5-2, 1-2) scored its first two touchdowns

within a 23-second span, the second coming just 1:28 into the

contest.

The Warriors needed just three plays to score after the opening

kickoff, as senior quarterback Denny Warden had completions of 44 and

16 yards to Jeremy Knepper, the latter for a touchdown with 10:55

left in the first quarter.

Brethren recovered a Sage fumble on the first snap after the

ensuing kickoff and Warden, who either ran or passed on the first 28

Warrior offensive snaps, until he hurt his right knee early in the

third quarter, scrambled around the right side for a 27-yard TD on

the next play and Sage Hill never recovered.

Brethren missed field-goal attempts of 52 and 42 yards to help

Sage remain close, but a 15-yard scoring pass from Warden to Kevin

Hinkley with 1:05 left in the half started a string of five straight

Warrior possessions that ended in touchdowns.

Monarch praised his coaches and players for their consistent

effort during the trying campaign, in which they were outscored,

291-77, including 136-14 in league.

“From the first game to the last, there was great progress,”

Monarch told his team in his postgame address. “If Midway Baptist (a

48-15 win in the opener) played you guys again right now, they’d have

their hands full. You young players, I want you guys to come in next

year as aggressors.”

Just the way this year’s seniors went out.