Lightning want to pass test

The school year began for Sage Hill School this week.

Lightning football coach Pete Anderson, who teaches math on campus, hopes class can also be in session tonight at 7, when Sage Hill plays host to Midway Baptist.

“We’ve had better weeks of practice,” Anderson said. “With this being the first week of school, the kids were the most distracted I’ve seen them. I’m hoping we can get focused and put it all together [tonight].”

The Lightning, coming off a 30-26 victory over Fairmont Prep in Week Zero, are also familiar with Midway Baptist, a small school from San Diego. Sage Hill’s first-ever varsity game was against the Patriots on Sept. 13, 2002, a game Sage won, 42-24.

The two teams have met every year since then other than last year, and Sage Hill is 3-1 against its opponents from the south.

“They’re pretty traditional on offense,” said Anderson, who was an assistant coach when the Lightning beat Midway Baptist in 2004 and 2005. “They run the ball a lot of the time. They’re a smaller team, but they have some good athletes and pretty scrappy kids that play both ways. Defensively, they don’t do a lot of tricky things. They didn’t blitz a lot, but when it happened it was pretty effective. Fundamentally sound football has worked well for them.”

Midway Baptist lost its opening-week game to Escondido Charter School, 47-22.

The Patriots were a part of the Big Sky League in the CIF Southern Section until the league disbanded for football last year. Now, they reside in the Southern League in the CIF San Diego Section.

They will be trying to stop an impressive Lightning passing attack, as Jamie McGee threw for 199 yards and a score in the opener. Five different Sage Hill players — Nick Witte, Michael Higgins, Max Torres, Preston Oklejas and Tom Multari — caught passes, led by Witte’s five grabs for 105 yards.

“Jamie’s as good as it gets for a high school quarterback,” Anderson said. “He’s got a strong arm, an accurate arm and he reads defenses well. He’s got five different receivers that are very dependable and have good speed. We have a lot of confidence in our passing game, that’s for sure.”

Anderson said McGee’s ankle is also feeling better, so he is projected to start tonight at safety on defense.