Sage Hill suffers setback

NEWPORT COAST — Below the Sage Hill School campus fog began rolling through before the football game.

Things then got a little cloudy late in the first half for the Lightning. Starting quarterback Randall Mycorn went down with a dislocated shoulder injury and left the field.

With one of their leaders lying on his back on a table, the Lightning tried to stay ahead of Tri-City Christian of Vista. Sage Hill punched in a score in the waning seconds before halftime and went ahead by two touchdowns.

The offense desperately missed Mycorn in the second half.

The Lightning failed to score again, watching Tri-City Christian on Friday night come back and win the nonleague game, 35-21, ending Sage Hill’s undefeated season.

Sage Hill’s best chance to start 3-0 for the first time since 2007 was lost when Mycorn was knocked out after throwing two touchdowns and rushing for 65 yards in the first half. First-year coach J.R. Tolver now has to figure a way to keep the team’s confidence up with Mycorn and linebacker Brendan Killaly (knee) out with severe injuries.

“We just have to rally around each other,” said Tolver, who expects Mycorn to be out as long as four weeks.

Tolver said he wasn’t sure about Killaly, who was on crutches after the team from the CIF San Diego Section stayed unbeaten at 2-0. The offense for Sage Hill, ranked No. 10 in the CIF Southern Section East Valley Division poll, looked just as limited as Killaly.

It took the Lightning until the 8:44 mark in the final quarter to record a first down in the second half. The offense committed four of its five turnovers in the final two quarters.

Backup quarterback Connor Ascher threw five times, three resulted in interceptions and zero for completions. The first pick thrown in the third quarter turned the game around.

With Sage Hill just inside the opponent’s 10-yard line, Ascher threw an ill-advised pass in the middle of the field. Free safety Andrew Torkelson intercepted the pass at the one. Off the senior went 99 yards the other way to cut the deficit to 21-14 with 7:50 left in the quarter.

The third quarter was a mess for both teams, as they combined to turn the ball over six times.

Eventually Torkelson made things happen at quarterback for the Eagles in the fourth quarter. He accounted for four of the team’s scores, two rushing, one passing and one on an interception return.

Torkelson again intercepted a pass, returning it 39 yards to Sage Hill’s 10 to set up the game-tying score. Two plays later, Torkelson faked the handoff and ran left to even the game at 21-21 with 8:59 to play.

Sage Hill finally moved the chains on the following possession on a 14-yard run by fullback Dusty Orrantia. Orrantia led the Lightning with 83 yards and one touchdown on 14 carries.

Sage Hill punted, leaving the Eagles on their own 24. On the first play, Torkelson hit a wide-open Daniel Callewaert on a 61-yard pass. The Eagles were in business on Sage Hill’s 15.

Three plays later, Torkelson threw his lone touchdown of the game. He hooked up with Kevin Giese on a 10-yard pass to give Tri-City Christian its first lead at 28-21.

At the pace Sage Hill moved the ball, a comeback was unlikely.

“Our defense stepped up and [it] played well,” said Tolver, whose defense came up with three interceptions and two fumbles. “But unfortunately Randall is a big piece of what we do. We just didn’t get the ball going on offense.”

Tri-City Christian 35, Sage Hill 21

TC Christian 7-0-7-21--35

Sage Hill 14-7-0-0--21

SCORE BY QUARTERS

FIRST QUARTER

SH – Ross 9 pass from Mycorn (Ross kick), 5:58.

TCC – Torkelson 1 run (Giese kick), 0:56.

SH – Petty 65 pass from Mycorn (Ross kick), 0:35.

SECOND QUARTER

SH – Orrantia 2 run (Ross kick), 0:13.

THIRD QUARTER

TCC – Torkelson 99 interception return (Giese kick), 7:50.

FOURTH QUARTER

TCC – Torkelson 2 run (Giese kick), 8:59.

TCC – Giese 10 pass from Torkelson (Giese kick), 5:00.

TCC – Cosby 6 run (Giese kick), 1:38. 

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

TCC – Torkelson, 11-65, 2 TDs; Cosby, 8-28, 1 TD; Reed, 2-28; Causey, 8-26; Cadaing, 3-9; Bauer, 1-2.

SH – Orrantia, 14-83, 1 TD; Mycorn, 4-69; Ross, 13-48; Multari, 2-11; Cheng, 2-minus 3; Ascher, 6-minus 2. 

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

TCC – Torkelson, 16-28-2, 201, 1 TD; Bauer, 0-1-1, 0.

SH – Mycorn, 4-7-1, 111, 2 TDs; Ascher, 0-5-3, 0; Multari, 0-1-0, 0. 

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

TCC – Callewaert, 5-103; Reed, 5-52; Bauer, 1-14; Cadaing, 1-11 ; Causey, 3-11; Giese, 1-10, 1 TD.

SH – Petty, 2-99, 1 TD; Ross, 1-9, 1 TD; Orrantia, 1-3.