Lightning ready to strike Twin Pines

Rick Devereux

Coach Tom Monarch said before the season started he wanted to force

other teams to throw the ball against the Sage Hill School defense.

The Lightning have picked off five passes in the first two games, and

have held opposing quarterbacks to 41% completion rates.

In order to force teams to throw the ball, two things must happen:

you need to stop the run and you need to get a lead. Unfortunately

for Sage Hill (1-1), neither happened in last week’s, 21-7, loss to

Villanova Prep. Monarch expects that to change for Friday’s contest

against Twin Pines (0-2).

“I think Twin Pines can be competitive game,” Monarch said. “They

are younger like we our. We start one senior on defense [end Jimmy

O’Hare] and two on offense [O’Hare at guard and Stephen Hancock at

tight end]. Our running game should be effective. If [quarterback

Jamie] McGee is healthy, we would like to utilize our passing game.”

McGee has a sore throwing shoulder and sprained ankle, but Monarch

expects the freshman signal caller to start against the Bobcats.

Monarch hopes running backs Keya Manshadi (26 carries for 173

rushing yards and two touchdowns) and Don Ayres (20-235, 2 TDs)

continue to pressure defenses, so McGee (10 of 23 for 108 passing

yards) can get more open looks at wide receivers in single coverage.

“One thing Villanova [Prep] exposed was sending multiple defenders

on blitzes,” Monarch said. “We need to incorporate more quick hitting

pass routes. We will also run more shoutgun to give McGee a little

bit more time to read the field.”

But the part of the equation Monarch feels needs the most

improvement is stopping the run while on defense. Against Villanova

Prep, the Lightning defense allowed two 100-yard rushers and 357

yards on the ground.

“We had some difficulty finding ball in the misdirection [against

Villanova Prep].” Monarch said. “We’re going to try to correct that

with simple moves with the linebacker spots”

Bryan Kornsweit has been moved from inside to outside ‘backer, and

Nick Sohl switches from outside to inside. Kornsweit, at 5-foot-9,

can have trouble seeing over bigger linemen, whereas the 6-0 Sohl

would be better suited to spot the play in the backfield.

Monarch said the two things he wants to see Sage Hill to improve

upon have nothing to do with height or vision.

“Our overall intensity is No. 1,” he said. “No. 2 is we’ve got to

stop making mistakes. We were called too many times [against

Villanova Prep] for offsides, holding and mental mistakes.”