Football: Sage Hill displays total package

The Sage Hill School football team completed its preleague season with its most complete game of 2014, defeating visiting Walnut Southlands Christian, 28-0, Friday night.

Sage Hill senior quarterback CJ McCord threw for 179 yards and two touchdowns, and broke off a 73-yard touchdown run, while senior receiver Vince Wetmore caught two touchdown passes and threw for another to help the Lightning improve to 3-3.

Defense also stood out for a Sage squad that had allowed nearly 30 points per game in its first five contests. It was the Lightning’s first shutout in 50 games, dating back to a 41-0 trouncing of Crean Lutheran in November, 2009.

“Defense played a very complete game,” Sage Coach Tom Kirchmeyer said. “[The Eagles] tried to run on us, like other teams have, but we’ve been working hard to get that fixed the last couple weeks and I think we did.”

Southlands Christian (1-4), which has lost 18 of its last 19 games, was blanked for the second consecutive game, though it did produce 243 offensive yards, 211 on the ground.

Sage, which has struggled to produce much with its running game, finished with 119 yards on 19 rushing attempts. But most of that was covered on McCord’s long scoring scramble midway through the third quarter that extended the lead to 21-0.

McCord, however, was most effective finding open receivers. He completed 15 of 22 attempts to help Sage record 11 of its 15 first downs via the air as Sage amassed 347 offensive yards.

It was another McCord, however, CJ’s sophomore brother Miles, who scored the first touchdown, when he fielded a double-reverse pass from Wetmore and sprinted in for a 52-yard scoring play with 6:16 left in the first period. The gadget play capped a five-play, 88-yard drive, one of three touchdown marches of more than 70 yards for the winners.

Two touchdowns cashed in fumble recoveries, the first by junior inside linebacker David Lee a the Sage Hill 22-yard line late in the first quarter and the second by junior noseguard Barry Valdez. Valdez’s big play came after sophomore outside linebacker Caden Sheetz popped the ball loose on a tackle from behind at the 50-yard line late in the third quarter.

In addition to the two turnovers, the Sage defense stopped the Eagles three times on fourth down, including stuffing a running play for no gain on fourth-and-two at its own 35-yard line late in the second quarter.

Senior safety Zach Burns broke up a fourth-down pass on a fake field goal attempt after the Eagles had driven to the Lightning 10-yard line midway through the final quarter.

Junior outside linebacker Jake Fisher and Wetmore, who plays strong safety on defense, were other stalwarts on that side of the ball. Both recorded sacks and Fisher was a constant thorn to an offense led by senior quarterback Alex Baldomino and junior tailback Sampson Tufui.

Wetmore had seven receptions for 101 yards, including a six-yard dart from CJ McCord to cap the scoring with 84 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Fisher caught five passes for 49 yards.

“We knew we had an advantage with our passing attack,” Kirchmeyer said. “It didn’t go as smoothly as I would have liked, but we did what we had to do to get the job done. I’m very happy with that.”

Also chipping in defensively were ends Aaron Kim and Logan Cook, inside linebacker Alfonso Corona, and cornerback David Dewey.

The Lightning open Academy League play at home on Friday against perennial champion St. Margaret’s.

“The kids are going hard at practice each and every week,” Kirchmeyer said. “They want to get better and they think we can be good.”

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Sage Hill 28, Southlands Christian 0

SCORE BY QUARTERS

So. Christian. 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Sage Hill 7 – 7 – 14 – 0 – 28

FIRST QUARTER

SH – M. McCord 52 pass from Wetmore (Strelow kick), 6:16.

SECOND QUARTER

SH – Wetmore 22 pass from C. McCord (Strelow kick), 9:05.

THIRD QUARTER

SH – C. McCord 73 run (Strelow kick), 5:36.

SH – Wetmore 6 pass from C. McCord (Strelow kick), 1:24.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

SC – Tufui, 22-87.

SH – C. McCord, 5-54, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

SC – Baldomino, 5-12-0, 32.

SH – C. McCord, 15-22-0, 179, 2 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

SC – Brashear, 2-16.

SH – Wetmore, 7-101, 2 TDs; Fisher, 5-49; M.McCord, 2-50, 1 TD; Burns, 2-31.