Sage Hill stays alive

NEWPORT COAST — As the Brethren Christian football team was driving for what could have been the go-ahead touchdown, it was gut-check time for Sage Hill School.

All day long, the Lightning had been having problems stopping Warriors senior running back Jesse Sundstrom.

But, with a CIF Southern Section Northeast Division playoff spot possibly in the balance, the Lightning defense finally responded by getting a key stop.

Max Torres did the rest, adding a late touchdown as Sage Hill outlasted Brethren Christian, 37-28, in a crucial Academy League game on Saturday afternoon at Sage Hill.

“Our playoffs started today,” said Sage Hill Coach Pete Anderson, referring to the fact that a loss would have eliminated Sage Hill (7-2, 1-1 in league) from playoff contention. With a win on Friday against Capistrano Valley Christian — another must-win game — the Lightning can now clinch the second of two available berths from the Academy League.

Sage Hill was up just two late Saturday, when Brethren Christian (4-5, 1-1) got the ball to its own 48 with under five minutes left.

Lightning sophomore defensive tackle Adam Donchess — playing for two-way starting lineman Cody Gates, who was out sick — and senior linebacker Nazir Katbi then stuffed Sundstrom (275 yards) for no gain on third-and-six.

“It frustrates you as a coach, but they step up when they absolutely need to,” Anderson said. “You’re sitting there going, ‘Why couldn’t they have done this earlier?’ But that’s just the way it goes sometimes. They stopped him when it counted.”

Brethren Christian’s fourth-down pass was incomplete, giving Sage Hill the ball back with 3:11 to go. The very next play, Torres ripped off a 39-yard run to set up first-and-goal.

“The line just pretty much blew their guys over to the side,” said Torres, who finished with a season-high 116 yards on the ground. Missing Gates and Andrew Irvine (shoulder), the Lightning started senior Zach Rabosky and freshman T.J. Danner along with offensive-line regulars Joey Puishys, Brendan Killaly and Donchess.

“We missed [the 6-foot-4, 300-pound Gates], and he’s a good player, but I think everybody stepped in and pulled together today,” Torres said.

On fourth-and-goal from the one, Torres then ran it in, giving Sage Hill a 36-28 lead.

Anderson, who had been going for two all day against Brethren, instead went for the extra point this time to make it a two-possession game. Freshman Taylor Ross’ kick was just inside the right upright.

Sage Hill senior Michael Higgins intercepted a desperation pass on the final play of the game.

At the other end of many of the Sage Hill passes, from senior quarterback Jamie McGee, was senior receiver Preston Oklejas. He finished with seven catches for 69 yards.

Oklejas also had two touchdown catches, the latter of which pulled the Lightning within 21-16 midway through the second quarter.

Sage Hill didn’t lead until McGee found junior tight end Craig Jackson over the middle, on an 11-yard touchdown play with 7:08 left in the third quarter.

Sundstrom responded with a 44-yard touchdown run on Brethren’s next possession. But, on the first play of the fourth quarter, McGee faked two handoffs and went untouched into the end zone on a 14-yard touchdown that gave the Lightning the lead for good.

“We have a team of mainly seniors, and we want to go into CIF and make a run,” Oklejas said. “I didn’t really feel like we played to our full speed at first. It seemed like we were lagging, but then we started stepping it up and getting back into our usual energetic selves.”

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

FIRST QUARTER

BC – Sundstrom 32 run (Cutts kick), 10:08.

BC – Sundstrom 1 run (Cutts kick), 6:00.

SECOND QUARTER

SH – Oklejas 5 pass from McGee (Oklejas pass from McGee), 11:29.

BC – Fabregas 6 run (Cutts kick), 6:54.

SH – Oklejas 8 pass from McGee (Torres run), 5:58.

THIRD QUARTER

SH – Jackson 12 pass from McGee (pass failed), 7:08.

BC – Sundstrom 44 run (Cutts kick), 5:28.

FOURTH QUARTER

SH – McGee 14 run (Oklejas pass from McGee), 11:52.

SH – Torres 1 run (Ross kick), 0:51.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

BC – Sundstrom, 34-275, 3 TDs; Cutts, 5-66; Fabrigas, 6-33, 1 TD; Hess, 1-1.

SH – Torres, 19-116, 1 TD; McGee, 6-20; Witte, 2-7; Higgins, 1-5.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

BC – Hess, 3-6-1, 33.

SH – McGee, 16-36-2, 198, 3 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

BC – Coleman, 1-39; Fabrigas, 1-minus 3; Sundstrom, 1-minus 3.

SH – Witte, 3-63; Oklejas, 7-59, 2 TDs; Jackson, 3-45, 1 TD; Higgins, 1-17; Torres, 2-14.