Lightning coming of age

Rick Devereux

Coach Tom Monarch thinks the growing pains of the Sage Hill School

football program are on the verge of producing a mature team capable

of capturing an Academy League title in just its third varsity

season.

Last year, the Lightning were forced to start freshmen at key

positions, including quarterback Braden Ross and linebacker Don

Ayers, who both earned second-team all-league status. But Monarch

thinks the current sophomore class benefited from being on the field.

“The disadvantage is that they got pushed around a little bit,” he

said. “But the advantage is that they grew up quickly to become men.”

It also gives Monarch and his coaching staff something the team

hasn’t had in the past -- experience.

“It was very difficult the first couple of years,” he said of the

lack of experienced players. “Now we have kids who have already been

to the battle.”

Unfortunately for the Lightning, most battles have been losing

propositions.

Sage Hill went 1-8 in 2003 and was outscored an average of 23.8

points per game. In 2002, when the Lightning went 3-7, the

differential was 16 points. Monarch believes his team has the

potential to improve dramatically from previous results.

“I think we’re going to do much better on both sides of the ball,”

he said. “We are going to be more disciplined and have more

athleticism. I expect three to four touchdowns out of our offense a

game this year.”

The optimism comes from the personnel on the field, not the

history of the scoreboard. Besides Academy League foes Capistrano

Valley Christian, St. Margaret’s and Brethren Christian, Sage Hill

faces three opponents in 2004 that it has played every year.

The Lightning, winless in the six league games they have played,

open Academy League play Oct. 29 at Brethren Christian. The Warriors

have scored 41 and 49 points, respectively, the last two years

against Sage Hill.

The Sage Hill defense allowed 717 yards on the ground on 114

carries in the final four games of the season, an average of 6.3

yards per carry and close to 180 per game.

“Our primary goals is going to be stuffing the run,” he said.

“We’re counting on situations where the defensive line ties up the

opposing line to let our linebackers roam and attack.”

Juniors Morgan Brief (5-foot-4, 170 pounds), a second-team

all-league selection last year, as well as Kyle Ramer (6-1, 230) will

be the primary interior linemen, while senior Bryan Forrest (6-2,

200) and junior Michael Morgan (6-4, 215) are expected to man the

defensive end spots. A line that averages about 6-0, 210 pounds is

expected to keep blockers off of outside linebackers Ayers and junior

Bryan Kornsweit and inside linebackers Steve Hancock, one of only

four seniors on the team, and Brandon David, a junior transfer from

Laguna Beach.

The defensive backs weren’t much better against the pass than the

front eight were against the run. In the eight losses last year, the

opponents completed 62% of their passes for 773 yards and averaged

more than 12 yards per completion.

The return of junior Keya Manshadi should help. Manshadi started

at wide receiver and safety as a freshman but fractured his leg

before last yea’s opener and saw only limited action.

Despite the gloomy history, Monarch thinks there is a bright

future for Sage Hill, and, he predicts, it could come a lot sooner

than people might expect.”