Sage surges to 3-0

Thunder and lightning struck again for the Sage Hill School football

team. Don Ayres (thunder) did his damage on the ground, while Keya

Manshadi (lightning) reeked havoc through the air with deep

receptions from quarterback Jamie McGee during Sage Hill’s 32-8

victory over host Midway Baptist Friday in a nonleague game.

Sage Hill Coach Tom Monarch thought his offense was a little

one-dimensional the first two weeks of the season. The Lightning ate

up mass yardage on the ground, but did little passing.

Once Academy League action starts, Monarch feels teams will key on

stopping the running game. So the Lightning mixed it up a little more

against the Patriots (1-2), throwing the ball 19 times and running

the ball 41 times.

McGee was 9 of 19 passing for 160 yards and two touchdowns, doing

most of the damage in the first half, when Sage Hill built up a 25-0

lead at halftime.

McGee’s favorite target in the first half was Manshadi, who was

used as a slot receiver at times. Manshadi’s 38-yard reception from

McGee after the sophomore quarterback rolled to his right set up his

own 2-yard touchdown run on a sweep to the left. Zach Milder’s

extra-point attempt was blocked by the Patriots’ Sunti Campbell, but

the Lightning held a comfortable 19-0 lead with 4:30 left in the

half.

On Midway Baptists’ next drive, a crunching tackle by Bryan

Kornswiet dropped Campbell for a loss of 4 yards. Two plays later,

Ayres intercepted a screen pass and returned it five yards to Patriot

35-yard line with 1:20 left in the half.

Four plays later, McGee went to the air again and found Manshadi

for a 23-yard touchdown pass to give the Lightning a 25-0 lead.

Manshadi had three catches for 92 yards and a touchdown and rushed

the ball 15 times for 55 yards and two touchdowns.

“We’re a running team, but they keyed on the run and we didn’t do

well in the beginning on the ground,” Manshadi said. “When we decided

to pass I had single coverage. Every team we compete against knows

we’re going to run. When we go to the air teams are not expecting

it.”

Brandon Ross had four catches for 55 yards and a touchdown for the

Lightning.

“We decided to implement more passing,” Monarch said. “We know

we’ll need it for league when our opponents key on our running game.

With that being said, we had a lot of dropped balls and Jamie skipped

a couple. In a big game we’ll have to put it all together. But this

is to be expected after doing so much running the first two games.”

Ayres, who had a 6-yard touchdown run on Sage Hill’s first drive

of the game, carried the load in the second half with 13 rushes for

70 yards. Ayres finished with 20 rushes for 93 yards and a touchdown.

Sage Hill added a touchdown late in the fourth quarter when Milder

picked off a Midway Baptist pass on the Patriot 11-yard line, setting

up McGee’s 22-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Ross.

Nick Sohl led the defensive effort for Sage Hill with two sacks.

The senior linebacker was quick to fill running holes, helping hold

the Patriots to 27 yards rushing.

“Our defense has been consistent all year,” Monarch said. “And

Sohl is turning into an exceptional linebacker. He’s quick and

reading the ball really well.”

Sage Hill is off to a 3-0 start for the first time in the school’s

history. Winning breeds expectations, and the Lightning have plenty

for themselves.

“Our goal is to improve on last year,” Monarch said. “To go 8-2 or

9-1 or 10-0 is quite the accomplishment in high school football.

Going 3-0 to start the season is great for the coaches, the kids, the

parents and the city.”

SCORE BY QUARTERS

*--*

Sage Hill 13 12 0 7 - 32 X

Midway Baptist 0 0 8 0 - 8 X

*--*

FIRST QUARTER

SH -- Ayers 6 run (kick failed), 3:50.

SH -- Manshadi 2 run (Milder kick), 0:00.

SECOND QUARTER

SH -- Manshadi 2 run (kick blocked), 4:30

SH -- Manshadi 23 pass from McGee (kick failed), 0:40.

THIRD QUARTER

MB -- Campbell 1 run (Marquez kick), 6:08.

FOURTH QUARTER

SH -- Ross 22 pass from McGee (Milder kick), 5:40.

A -- 200 (est.)

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

SH -- Ayres, 20-93, 1 TD; Manshadi, 15-55, 2 TDs; McGee, 4-14;

Ross, 1-minus-10; Sohl, 1-2.

MB -- Marquez, 14-39; Campbell, 6-4, 1 TD; Neff, 6-minus-16.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

SH -- McGee, 9-19-0, 160, 2 TDs.

MB -- Neff, 2-4-1, 17.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

SH -- Ross, 4-55, 1 TD; Manshadi, 3-92, 1 TD; Sani, 1-12; Ayres,

1-1.

MB -- Miller, 1-19; Marquez, 1-minus-2.

GAME STATISTICS

*--*

SH MB

First downs 12 3

Rushes-yardage 41-152 26-27

Passing yardage 160 17

Passing 9-19-0, 160, 2 TD 2-4-1 Net return yards* 5 0

Sacks-yardage 3-18 0-0

Net yardage 317 44

Punts 1-minus-3 2-25

Fumbles-fumbles lost 1-0 2-0

Flags-net yardage 6-40 2-10

Time of possession 32:30 15:30

*Punt returns, interceptions, fumble returns

*--*