Banged-up Lightning visit Midway Baptist

Patrick Laverty

The season hasn’t even started and Sage Hill School football coach

Tom Monarch has already been forced to make changes.

Eddie Huang, expected to play quarterback this season for the

Lightning, has been moved to running back because of a shoulder

injury and freshman Braden Ross is expected to start under center

Friday when Sage Hill travels to Midway Baptist in San Diego for its

season opener at 4 p.m.

Sage Hill, which had previously lost sophomore wingback Keya

Manshadi, expected to be the Lightning’s featured ball carrier, for

six weeks after he suffered a fracture above his ankle, has had to

make the necessary system changes with the personnel moves.

Monarch has placed Huang behind fullback Ray Lim in an I-formation

and Sage Hill enters its Week 1 contest looking to pound the ball

between the tackles, playing “good, old-fashioned football,” Monarch

said.

The question is whether the Lightning will be able to pass the

ball with a freshman playing quarterback and another, Don Ayres, at

tight end.

“That’s one of those century-old questions,” Monarch said. “I’ll

answer that at halftime.”

At halftime of last year’s season opener against Midway Baptist,

Sage Hill had a 12-point lead on its way to a 42-24 victory in the

first varsity football game in school history. The Lightning finished

the 2002 season 3-7, but they enter this year knowing they can beat

Midway Baptist.

“Unfortunately, I only have a couple of kids left from that team,”

Monarch said. “They’re not intimated coming in. The freshmen are

excited. But I know they’ll be nervous come game time.”

The Lightning will be relying heavily upon freshmen and

sophomores, including three sophomore starters along the offensive

line. While Sage Hill has the required size, it is lacking in the

experience department.

“Size I’m not really concerned about,” Monarch said. “It’s the

youth. I think game-by-game it will be a lot easier for us as far as

dominating the line of scrimmage.”

The 2003 season opener is expected to be won at the line of

scrimmage, particularly with Sage Hill’s new emphasis on the power

running game. Midway Baptist is expected to run a lot of double-tight

end formations, running off tackle.

“We need to concentrate on stopping the run. Our goal is to make

them pass.”

Midway Baptist should have the same goal coming into this game.

Whoever completes the first pass may just win.