Sage Hill ‘picks’ up opening win

Rick Devereux

Sage Hill School Coach Tom Monarch accomplished his goal in the

team’s 42-14 season-opening victory over Midway Baptist Friday.

“We said we wanted to force them to throw to our cornerbacks, and

they did,” Monarch said.

The Lightning secondary came up with three interceptions. Safety

Jamie McGee grabbed one interception, while cornerback Keya Manshadi

returned both of his picks for touchdowns.

“I think Manshadi had one of the best games in the county,”

Monarch said. “He was a human highlight film.”

Manshadi’s interception returns were 33 and 97 yards, and he also

scored twice more while collecting 98 yards rushing and 16 receiving.

Monarch said Manshadi also had close to 40 return yards on special

teams to give the junior well over 250 all-purpose yards and four

touchdowns.

Manshadi’s dominance took some pressure off the younger players

learning new positions or simply learning how to play varsity

football.

Sophomore Braden Ross switched from quarterback to wide receiver

after earning second-team All-Academy League honors as a freshman

signal caller.

“Ross did extremely well [at wide receiver],” Monarch said. “They

put their best defender on him, and he got pushed off his routes a

little bit, but we haven’t worked too much against bump-and-run.”

Freshman McGee is the new man behind center, and Monarch was happy

with how the youngster handled the pressure of starting his first

varsity game.

“His decision making of when to throw the ball and when not to

throw the ball will improve,” Monarch said. “He maintained pretty

good composure. There were no fumbled snaps, and he made good fakes

and good handoffs. There were a couple of dropped passes, but he

threw enough where we feel comfortable with his play.”

The Lightning play host to Villanova Prep (1-0) Friday.

* CORONA DEL MAR: Running backs Wess Presson, Austin Brawner and

Brett Crowley have a combined 470 rushing yards in the Sea Kings’

first two games. Factor in quarterback Tom Welch’s 159 yards rushing,

and the offense has averaged 314.5 yards on the ground with this

foursome alone.

“Our offensive line has done a good job,” Coach Dick Freeman said.

“We’re breaking up the carries fairly evenly, so [the running backs]

are doing fairly well with the touches they get.”

Those four have averaged 9.7 yards a rush this year. Of the 14

offensive plays that gained 20 yards or more the first two games,

nine have been on the ground.

But the team has also accumulated 23 penalties for 250 yards thus

far.

“That’s a lot of penalties,” Freeman said. “We’ve got to keep

[opponents] from getting first downs. We stop them and then we get a

penalty to give them a first down to keep a drive going. Those

penalties have to stop.”

The Sea Kings (2-0), ranked No. 7 in CIF Southern Section Division

IX, will hope to continue the momentum gained by a 35-9 win over

Costa Mesa when they meet Troy (1-0) Friday night at Fullerton High.

* NEWPORT HARBOR: The 2004 football season is different than any

Coach Jeff Brinkley has faced in his 19 years directing the Sailors.

“We’ve been very fortunate over years through our strength

training program to avoid the injury bug,” Brinkley said. “But we’ve

had some odd things this year. It’s something you have to deal with

in your career.”

The Sailors (1-0), ranked No. 5 in CIF Division VI, had four

projected starters sidelined in Thursday’s 20-7 season-opening

victory over Fountain Valley.

Wide receiver Spencer Link, the Newport-Mesa Player of the Year

last season, had a bruised left shoulder. All-Sea View League

linebacker Thomas Martin has a stomach illness. Linebacker/receiver

Taylor Young broke his foot playing summer basketball. Running back

Ryan Rippon suffered a leg injury that could sideline him for up to

eight weeks.

“That’s why you try to get your second- and third-[string] guys

ready,” Brinkley said. “We have our junior varsity practice with the

varsity so they have the same coach for three years. They know the

terminology and philosophy, so that helps us.”

Brinkley said there is a possibility one or two junior varsity

players might be called up for Friday’s game against Marina (0-1),

but that he was happy with how the team overcame the injuries to win

the opener.

“When your defense holds the other team to seven points, you’re

doing something,” he said. “We had one miscue in the secondary, and

that resulted in their touchdown, but, overall, I’m fairly pleased

with how we played.”

* ESTANCIA: Eagles Coach Craig Fertig wanted to motivate senior

running back Bryce McKendry after he produced 46 rushing yards in the

season-opening loss to Corona del Mar.

“I told him, ‘They’ve got to pay the price to tackle Bryce,’ ” he

said.

The phrase must have had an impact, because the 6-foot-4,

205-pounder rushed for 188 yards and four touchdowns to help the

Eagles (1-1) defeat Magnolia, 33-26, Thursday.

“[Magnolia] looked at the CdM tape and stacked a lot of people

against an inside running game,” Fertig said. “We ran a lot of option

and student body right and student body left, which really changed

the game for us.”

Fertig pointed out that the rushing output was made possible by

the blocking of fullback Dave Moreno and the entire offensive line.

The Eagles will look to keep things going Saturday night against

Buena Park (0-1).

* COSTA MESA: The Costa Mesa defense allowed touchdown runs of 64

and 40 yards and TD passes of 29 and 95 yards. Other than that,

according to Mustang Coach Tom Baldwin, the defense played well in

the loss to CdM.

“If you take out four plays, it’s a close game,” Baldwin said. “Of

course you can’t take out those four big plays, so we’re going to

learn and move one.”

The combination of the return of Kevin Welch and Shane Collins,

CdM’s top two receivers last year who sat out the season opener with

injuries, and health issues within the already thin Costa Mesa

secondary, resulted in 268 yards passing for the Sea Kings.

Cornerback Tony Krikorkian did not suit up for the game due to a

bone bruise on an ankle that made it painful to walk.

Evan Hunter played corner for most of the first half before being

sidelined with a slight concussion and Jorge Quiroz played the other

corner until severe leg cramps sent him off the field in the third

quarter.

Baldwin said he was upset the team was called for 11 penalties for 70 yards, but there were some positives.

“We improved in some areas, but it’s hard to pinpoint exactly

where because we played a really good football team,” Baldwin said.

“I honestly think they’re the best team we’ll face all year, so to

judge our season on one game is hardly fair to the kids.”

The Mustangs (0-2) play Huntington Beach (0-0-1) Thursday at

Newport Harbor.