Sage to balance its attack

Like what every car needs periodically, the Sage Hill School football

team will be looking for a tuneup in its game against visiting

Sherman Indian at 7 p.m. Friday night.

With a thunderous ground game oiled and ready to go, Lightning

Coach Tom Monarch wants to sharpen up the team’s passing game for

Academy League play later in the season.

Sherman Indian gets to be the guinea pig.

“We have to fine tune our passing,” said Monarch, whose team

trounced Midway Baptist Friday to improve to 3-0. “We need to balance

our game a little more, and then eliminate some mistakes. We had too

many dropped balls [against Midway].”

The Lightning defeated Midway, 32-8, led by sophomore quarterback

Jamie McGee, who completed 9 of 19 for 160 yards and two touchdowns.

Monarch said there were numerous dropped passes, however.

Sherman Indian, of Riverside, is coming off a 42-0 season-opening

victory against Noli Indian, of San Jacinto, but it’s tough to gauge

the caliber of the team, Monarch said.

“It’s hard to tell,” he said. “They blew up their first opponent,

but they’ve only played one game. Any team that wins, 42-0, isn’t a

bad team, though.”

Quarterback Dakota Black is likely to be the central focus of

Braves. Black rushed for 206 yards and threw for 104 yards with two

TDs in Sherman Indian’s victory.

The defensive game plan for Sage will be similar to the strategy

against Saddleback Valley Christian, which also had a scrambling

quarterback. Senior Keya Manshadi, normally a cornerback on defense,

will move up and play more of a linebacker, Monarch said.

Sage defeated SVC, 32-19, led by the defense.

While McGee and the Lightning passing offense fine tune’s itself,

the ground duo of Manshadi and junior fullback Don Ayres should be

rearing to go.

After a combined total of 579 rushing yards in the first two games

of the season, Sage was held to 152 ground yards against Midway

Baptist. Manshadi and Ayres currently lead the team in scoring with a

combined 11 touchdowns.

The only question mark heading into the game is the complacency

issue after cruising to three lopsided victories.

“Naturally, it can be an issue,” Monarch said. “The key is we need

to keep getting better each week, and the bottom line is to prepare

for league.”

The Lightning will play against host Viewpoint at 7 p.m. on Oct. 1

at Calabasas High.

SAGE HILL STARTERS

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OFFENSE

No. Player Ht. Wt. Yr. Po.

7 Jamie McGee 6-2 175 So. QB

9 Keya Manshadi 6-0 175 Sr TB

45 Don Ayres 6-0 175 Jr. FB

10 Braden Ross 5-10 170 Jr. WR 1 Zach Milder 5-9 140 Sr. WR

61 Krishna Sani 6-2 210 Sr. TE

58 Kyle Ramer 6-2 240 Sr. LT

55 Brandon David 5-10 230 Sr. LG 54 Bryan Kornswiet 5-9 175 Sr. C

22 Nick Sohl 6-1 180 Sr. RG 65 Michael Morgan 6-4 230 xx. RT

*--*

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DEFENSE

No. Player Ht. Wt. Yr. Po.

65 Michael Morgan 6-4 230 Sr. DE

56 Morgan Brief 5-4 160 Sr. DT

55 Brandon David 5-10 230 Sr. DT 61 Krishna Sani 6-2 210 Sr. DE

45 Don Ayres 6-0 175 Jr. OLB

22 Nick Sohl 6-1 180 Sr. ILB

8 Max Torres 6-0 165 Sr. ILB

54 Bryan Kornswiet 5-9 175 Sr. OLB

10 Braden Ross 5-10 170 Jr. CB 9 Keya Manshadi 6-0 175 Sr. CB

1 Zach Milder 5-9 140 Sr. S

*--*