MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK:Rookies star in opener

Amid the anxious, yet cheerful atmosphere that comes with a season-opening high school football game, two freshmen were eaglery wanting to give their new coach a victory in his debut.

Sage Hill School’s T.J. Danner and Taylor Ross also did their best to ignore the fact they were donning varsity uniforms for the first time and instead acted as if they had been there before. They both contributed to the Lightning’s thrilling 30-26 season-opening victory over visiting Fairmont Prep on Friday night.

Danner proved to be impressive as Sage Hill’s center, while Ross, the younger brother of former Lightning standout Braden Ross, displayed skill on special team as the punter and kicker.

“[Danner] played the whole game against a senior nose tackle who’s close to 300 pounds and we didn’t have one bad snap,” Sage Hill’s first-year coach Pete Anderson said. “He had quite an initiation to high school football. He had a great game, considering that was his first football game.”

Anderson also said Taylor Ross showed great poise when dealing with pressure while punting.

Yet for all the reward that comes with a victory, there were some mistakes the rookie coach noticed while watching film on Sunday. He’ll be directing for some corrections during this week leading up to the Lightning’s home game against Midway Baptist Friday at 7 p.m.

“I don’t want to take anything away from Fairmont, but a lot of their success was from our mistakes,” Anderson said. “Their QB was a one-man wrecking crew. If we made an error in containing him, it resulted in a big gain on their part.

“We also had a couple breakdowns blocking, but overall we were really solid.”

In addition to Sage Hill’s steady performance, Anderson said he admired the Lightning’s resiliency. He noticed how his players continually responded after Fairmont would execute a big play.

“Michael Higgins is a good example,” Anderson said. “He dropped a pass on a third down that 99 times out of 100 he wouldn’t drop. But he came back and scored a touchdown [on an 11-yard run, and caught two two-point conversion passes] after that.”

Senior quarterback Jamie McGee showed great leadership and made key throws during the game, Anderson said.

The Lightning made it through the game with no serious injuries. Anderson said that a few players will be able to play for the first time in Friday’s game. The players, including Brendan Killaly and Zach Rabosky, could not play because they had not practiced the CIF-required 10 days because of previous plans for summer vacation, Anderson said.

 Corona del Mar: Hunter Alder may have thrown for a career-high 256 yards and three touchdowns Friday night, but Coach Dick Freeman was still able to find a couple of things in the offense he wants to tweak. Freeman said the Sea Kings spent some extra time getting to the ball and getting plays off, allowing the Laguna Beach defense to make adjustments.

Still, CdM won its seventh straight season opener, defeating Laguna, 26-6. Freeman was extremely pleased with the defense.

There were no injuries, but junior Max Haase left the game at halftime with cramps. Haase (6-2, 200 pounds) probably overworked himself, and he was one of the few players starting on offense and defense, but Freeman said he should be fine.

Freeman was hoping junior backup quarterback Mitch Sands would get some game repetitions last week, but Alder finished the game. Sands, who started on defense, should see time against El Toro this week.

“They’re both pretty equal, and I’d like to be able to have both guys come in,” Freeman said. “Three games last year, Hunter Alder had to come in, so we need to be ready for that.”

Costa Mesa: Coach Jeremy Osso recognized the anguish that comes with a 62-7 season-opening loss, but he was also quick to point out the positive. First, he knows there’s always next week.

“I think there is probably only one way to go,” Osso said. “I don’t know how worse you can be with that score. There were some allignment problems and problems with tackling, but their speed made the difference. We have to get better at knowing our assignments and tackling. As a coaching staff that’s our job to get them better.”

Osso said he was impressed with Mesa’s offensive line and Mustangs running back Antwon Byrd, who rushed for 184 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries.

“Antwon is tough, strong and big; and you add in that he’s fast,” Osso said. “I don’t think I’ve had a back as fast as him since I was coaching at Estancia in 1999 with Marshall Hendricks.”

Osso also said fullback Cody De La Mater was a key contributor to Byrd’s yards.

 Estancia: There is one change that’s inescapable for Coach Mike Bargas if his team is going to be competitive this year: tackling.

After Friday night’s 35-6 loss to Aquinas, tackling deficiencies were the main problem that stuck out to Bargas. It wasn’t the only problem; Aquinas was also able to convert on two punt fakes and an onside kick. But tackling issues glared the brightest on film Saturday, with Dwaine Radden racking up 250 rushing yards.

Junior kicker/tight end Eli Diego suffered a mild ankle sprain and his status is day-to-day, Bargas said. It was swollen Friday night, but Diego was walking on it gingerly.

The tackling issues were partially a result of a conundrum during two-a-days that Bargas didn’t completely solve.

“You can go hard and risk injury, or back off and hope they respond,” Bargas said. The team had two injuries from hitting in full pads: junior running back/defensive back Jason Moreno and junior Heraldo Marquez, and he wanted to avoid others.

The Eagles have a short week to prepare to travel to Bolsa Grande, another team with a run-heavy offense, Thursday at 7 p.m. 

— Soraya Nadia McDonald contributed to this story