Tolver era begins with dramatic upset

NEWPORT COAST — By the time it was nearly over, Sage Hill School football coach J.R. Tolver had two play sheets rolled up like batons, one in each of his back pockets.

And as the host Lightning held on in the closing seconds to secure a 28-26 season-opening upset of Fairmont Prep Friday night, it was clear that the baton had been passed from a struggling program to one, now under Tolver and his staff of former college and professional players, with substantial promise.

The Lightning, coming off a 2-8 season after which Tolver took over for then-coach Derek McIntyre, looked like an altogether more menacing weather pattern against the favored Huskies, ranked No. 7 in CIF Southern Section Northeast Division on the heels of an 8-3 campaign.

Sage Hill scored on three of four first-half possessions, including a four-play, 74-yard drive that produced a 21-14 lead with 18 seconds left before intermission.

Fairmont Prep, which opened the scoring and led, 14-13, with 1:44 left in the first half, scored midway through the third quarter. But a dropped snap on a would-be conversion kick resulted in a failed desperation pass and Sage held onto a one-point edge.

The Lightning, outscored five times by more than 41 points last season, when its offense was a virtual punt machine that lacked cohesion and commotion, drove 74 yards on nine plays to pad the lead to 28-20 with 8:12 left in the nonleague contest.

The two teams then exchanged punts, before the Huskies capped a three-play, 52-yard spurt with a 27-yard halfback pass for a touchdown that threatened to douse all the Lightning thunder, if the visitors could have converted a two-point conversion attempt.

But senior defensive end Connor Gaughan applied pressure on Fairmont quarterback Kevin Wagner, who was rolling to his right looking for a receiver in the end zone on the two-point try.

Wagner lofted a desperation attempt into a sea of bodies just beyond the goal line, where junior strong safety Taylor Ross knocked it to the turf to protect the two-point lead.

Ross then recovered the onside kick, and launched a 51-yard directional punt more than 90 seconds later that pinned the Huskies on their own seven-yard line with 14 ticks remaining.

Two complete passes followed, but the clock expired on any comeback, prompting a raucous celebration by the Lightning.

Senior fullback Dusty Orrantia and Ross, playing tailback, paced an efficient running attack that pumped out first downs behind a veteran offensive front wall of blockers.

Orrantia finished with 122 rushing yards on 14 carries, while Ross had 103 yards and a touchdown on nine attempts.

“We had a game plan,” Tolver said. “And that was to rely on our running game, because our offensive line is our strength.”

Mo Kreightenberg, TJ Danner, Brendan Killaly, Sebastian Sadeghi and Adam Donchess made up the O-line.

Junior quarterback Randall Mycorn had four completions for 79 yards, but two of his three connections with Gaughan resulted in TDs of 37 and 12 yards. Gaughan also caught Mycorn’s two-point conversion after the final first-half score that proved key.

Gaughtan had 71 yards on three receptions.

Linebackers Orrantia, Killaly, and Kreitenberg, as well as safties Ross and Taylor Petty, stood out on defense for Sage.

Sage Hill 28, Fairmont Prep 26

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Fairmont 7-7-6-6--26

Sage Hill 13-8-0-7--28 

FIRST QUARTER

FP – Jocson 35 pass from Wagner (Marston kick), 7:21.

SH – Petty 5 run (kick failed), 4:35.

SH – Gaughan 37 pass from Mycorn (Ross kick), 0:44.

SECOND QUARTER

FP – Jocson 5 run (Marston kick), 1:44.

SH – Gaughan 12 pass from Mycorn (Gaughan pass from Mycorn), 0:18.

THIRD QUARTER

FP – Dan 14 run (pass failed), 7:44.

FOURTH QUARTER

SH – Ross 2 run (Ross kick), 8:12.

FP – Warr 27 pass from Shim (pass failed), 2:06.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

FP – Dang, 13-80, 1 TD; Jocson, 6-68, 1 TD, Shim, 4-25; Wagner, 3-2, Warr, 1-0.

SH – Orrantia, 14-122; Ross, 9-103, 1 TD; Mycorn, 8-38; Petty, 3-9, 1 TD; Hanour, 1-minus-4.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

FP – Wagner, 13-19-0, 223, 1 TD; Shim, 1-1-0, 27, 1 TD.

SH – Mycorn, 4-9-1, 79, 2 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

FP – Jocson, 6-131, 1 TD; Warr, 7-80, 1 TD; Lopez, 1-35.

SH – Gaughan, 3-71, 2 TDs; Orrantia, 1-8.