Sage edges Lions

TEMECULA — Sage Hill School Coach Pete Anderson compared the Lightning football team to a car.

Fitting, because Sage definitely needed a drive at Linfield Christian of Temecula on Friday night.

Down by seven points with less than four minutes to go, the Lightning were backed up to their own 14-yard line.

Senior quarterback Jamie McGee and the offense didn’t panic. The drive that followed was an exercise in precision.

Max Torres scored from two yards out with 41 seconds left, and the two-point conversion pass from McGee to Nick Witte helped the Lightning come back for a thrilling, 36-35 nonleague victory.

“It’s kind of like having a high-performance vehicle that hits on all cylinders,” Anderson said. “That was that last drive. We were missing here and there, and drives would sputter, but we were finally able to put it together when it counted at the very end.”

Sage Hill (6-1) then survived a drive by Linfield Christian (5-2) that ended when a 56-yard field-goal attempt landed innocently in the end zone as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

On the final 86-yard touchdown drive, McGee was seven-for-seven for 84 yards. He completed passes to Witte, Michael Higgins and Preston Oklejas on the drive, at one point producing five consecutive first downs.

The last pass, to Higgins, set up second-and-goal at the two. Torres then took the inside handoff and scored, bringing Sage Hill within 35-34.

McGee then found Witte near the middle of the end zone on the two-point pass as the Lightning sideline erupted.

“Everyone trusts in each other,” McGee said. “I trust in the line, I trust in my receivers. We all knew we could do it, and that’s just what we did. Everyone just put it together. Everyone played the best they played the whole game, at that specific point.”

Sage Hill had a 14-0 lead early, taking advantage of a Lions fumble, recovered by Joey Puishys, on the game’s first play from scrimmage, then a Linfield Christian fake punt that resulted in a turnover on downs.

Linfield Christian scored on its first three second-half possessions, largely behind junior running back Daniel Musquiz, who finished with 200 yards on 28 carries.

When Jason Moralez found Collin Yost on an 11-yard score, the Lions led, 35-20.

Witte scored on a 20-yard pass, then caught the conversion pass from McGee. Good pass coverage from senior linebacker Jordan Spencer then helped Sage Hill stop a Linfield Christian third-down-conversion attempt near midfield, giving the Lightning one more chance.

“There were a bunch of lapses throughout the game,” McGee said.

“We came out strong in the first quarter. We kind of got lazy with a lot of missed tackles, and got in a funk. But we put it together in those last three minutes of the game.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at [email protected].

FIRST QUARTER

SH – Torres 1 run (run failed), 11:13.

SH – Higgins 6 pass from McGee (Higgins run), 6:27.

LC – Moralez 1 run (Yost kick), 2:17.

SECOND QUARTER

SH – Oklejas 10 pass from McGee (pass failed), 6:07.

LC – Musquiz 8 run (Yost kick), 2:32.

THIRD QUARTER

LC – Yost 24 pass from Moralez (Yost kick), 4:32.

LC – Vam Briggem 15 pass from Moralez (Yost kick), 0:39.

FOURTH QUARTER

LC – Yost 11 pass from Moralez (Yost kick), 8:49.

SH – Witte 20 pass from McGee (Witte poass from McGee), 6:19.

SH – Torres 2 run (Witte pass from McGee), 0:41.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

SH – Torres, 12-76, 2 TDs; Witte, 2-29; McGee, 5-24; Higgins, 7-21.

LC – Musquiz, 28-200, 1 TD; Hoffman, 3-10; Moralez, 3-0, 1 TD; Blake, 1-0; Van Bruggen, 1-minus 2.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

SH – McGee, 20-31-1, 245, 3 TDs.

LC – Moralez, 8-14-0, 138, 3 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

SH – Witte, 9-141, 1 TDl Oklejas, 3-56, 1 TD; Higgins, 5-42, 1 TD; Torres, 2-5; Jackson, 1-1.

LC – Yost, 2-35, 2 TDs; Reynolds, 1-30; Schultz, 1-19; Blake, 2-20; Musquiz, 1-19; Van Bruggen, 1-15, 1 TD.