Taking down a Saint

This isn’t how Coach Pete Anderson envisioned getting Sage Hill School ready for its big football game.

Instead of cleats chewing up the practice field all week long, high tops screeched inside the basketball gym. With the unhealthy air from the Orange County fires, the Lightning turned the lights on in the gym.

Now they’ll try to turn the lights out on unbeaten St. Margaret’s.

No one has come close yet. The Lightning (6-1) get their shot in an Academy League opener for both private schools set for today at 6 p.m. at St. Margaret’s (7-0).

Anderson, in his first year, understands the challenge against Sage Hill’s rival, the reigning league and CIF Southern Section Northeast Division champ. Never has St. Margaret’s lost to Sage Hill in football.

After seeing the game postponed twice, with Friday and Saturday considered dangerous to play with the pollutants in the air, now it’s up to Anderson to delay St. Margaret’s offense from scoring in bunches.

If you thought the No. 8 Lightning strike often with quarterback Jamie McGee (1,951 passing yards, 24 touchdowns) and his three receiving targets, better check out the top-ranked Tartans. They are averaging 42.2 points per game.

Leading up to a rivalry game coaches tend to use clichés like “we’re taking it one game at a time” a couple of weeks before playing. Anderson never hid how vital this game is before the season started. Maybe it’s because he’s a newbie.

“We have been looking forward to this game since the first day of practice,” he said. “We’ve both been in the same boat with having practices limited and held indoors all week. It wouldn’t surprise me if it’s really close.”

Close? The word is only used when there is an “s” added at the end because St. Margaret’s closes out games early. The tightest game so far has been a 14-point victory at No. 7 Calvary Murrieta and that was a shutout.

The Tartans appear unstoppable as they’ve won 21 straight games dating back last season, when they went 14-0. They improved in the offseason, hiring legendary Coach Harry Welch, the mastermind behind Canyon of Canyon County claiming the Division I section and state titles last year.

Anderson’s heard of Welch, who likes to spread defenses thin. The math teacher also knows that Welch’s 186-46-2 record comes out to an impressing 79.4 winning percentage. Welch is on track to win his sixth section crown in 19 years, another remarkable amount resulting in about one section title every three years.

“I don’t know what would be more impressive than all of those accolades. Maybe a Super Bowl ring,” said Anderson, well aware that the Tartans have beaten the Lightning by an average of 39.2 points per game in the last five years. “It’s going to be a chess match. I’m looking forward to it because this is a challenge from the standpoint of X’s and O’s.”

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at david.carrillo@latimes.com.