Seniors oversee Sage Hill’s success

He may be a first-year head coach, but Pete Anderson is no stranger to the Sage Hill School football program.

Anderson was an assistant coach in 2004 and ‘05, working as line and conditioning coach under Tom Monarch. Anderson, a Newport Beach resident, did not coach for the Lightning last season to focus on teaching at the school.

But Monarch, the only head coach Sage Hill football had ever known since its inception in 2001, was fired in April, in a move that then-Athletic Director Nate Miller said reflected a trend toward on-campus coaches. That opened the door for Anderson, 38, who was an assistant coach at several schools in Montana before coming to Orange County.

“It was a little bit bumpy at first,” Anderson said. “But Tom did a really great job and left a really good foundation to build upon. Due to a lot of his work, the transition was pretty easy for me. [I have] a lot of familiarity with the kids in the program, being a faculty member here.”

It was a program that really started taking off in 2004, Anderson’s first year as assistant coach. Sage went from a 1-8 record in ’03 to a 7-3 record in ‘04, making what were then the CIF Southern Section Division XIII playoffs for the first time.

Two years ago, came a season when the Lightning went 8-1 and won their first-ever Division XIII playoff game, a 22-21 victory over Pasadena Poly. Last season, Sage went 6-4, including 3-1 in the Academy League and advanced to what are now the Northeast Division playoffs.

In 2004, this year’s seniors were also freshmen, a fact that Anderson knows well. They’ve seen the Lightning football program grow up.

The Lightning were in a position to capture their first Academy League title last year before dropping their regular-season finale, a 42-21 setback against rival St. Margaret’s. The Tartans went on to win the Northeast Division title, while Sage Hill went on to bow out of the playoffs in the opening round to Maranatha, 23-8.

But the expectation is there this year to improve on that showing.

“It’s really easy to be a dark horse; there’s no pressure,” Anderson said. “When people expect you to be in the hunt for a league title and a CIF title, it’s a different type of pressure. But I think it’s a good thing, it’s a healthy pressure. If you can’t handle it, then you probably should consider another vocation.

“It’s really good for the high school psyche to have that expectation to win,” he said. “When you have kids walking out on the football field and expecting to win, you can’t ask for anything more than that. If you show up prepared, ready to go with that kind of an attitude, usually you’ll have success.”

Success is definitely not something the program takes for granted. For all of the accomplishments the last several years, Sage has yet to win the Academy League title. It may be an interesting race this season, as St. Margaret’s Coach Jason Hitchens left for Villa Park after leading the Tartans to the CIF Southern Section Northeast Division championship.

The Tartans’ new coach is Harry Welch, who led Canyon of Canyon Country to the Division I state title last season. In 18 years as coach at Canyon, Welch’s teams went 179-46-2 and won five CIF titles. Impressive, yes, but the Lightning have an experienced squad of their own this year. They have at least seven starters returning on both offense and defense.

They also have what appears to be a favorable schedule.

Sage Hill’s first five games are all at home. The Lightning don’t go on the road until a nonleague game against Animo Leadership at Hawthorne High on Oct. 5.

Sage then goes into its bye week, meaning out of the first seven weeks of the season, the Lightning have one road game.

“All of that stuff was done before I came on board,” Anderson said. “We’ll take it, though.”

The Lightning should take plenty of wins this year, too, led by players like senior quarterback Jamie McGee. The four-year varsity starter at quarterback was a first-team All-Academy League selection last year.

ut the 13 other seniors on Sage Hill’s roster also want to go out as winners.

“All these seniors, when they were freshmen, there were like 19 or 20 kids out,” Anderson said. “I still remember this from when I was an assistant, myself and another coach would have to play on the scout defense just to have 11-on-11. The program was smaller then, and a lot of those seniors saw a lot of time as freshmen.

“That’s a huge advantage. There’s no substitute for game experience.”