Sage falls to Warriors

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Sage Hill School football coach Derek McIntyre felt that Friday’s Academy League matchup with Brethren Christian would come down to which team could establish the run, and which could deny the other a sustainable ground attack.

A week after rolling up 401 total yards of offense in a league-opening win over Capistrano Valley Christian, Sage Hill couldn’t find its running legs and couldn’t stop Brethren Christian running back Drew Fabrigas and the result was a 41-7 setback to the Warriors.

The outcome left both teams with 1-1 records in league play.

“It really was about being able to run the ball tonight,” McIntyre said of the key to the game. “We didn’t and they did. They came out with a game plan, and it was nothing that we hadn’t seen from them, and the ran the football well. A lot of times our guys would be there to make a play but we just couldn’t finish.”

Sage Hill, which implemented the Wing T in its offense in last week’s 34-19 victory over Capistrano Valley, used the scheme again Friday but also ran its patented spread offense due to injuries suffered by a few key players. The Lightning rushing attack did net 139 total yards, with 95 of them going to sophomore running back Taylor Ross, but twice had first-half scoring drives stymied deep in Brethren Christian territory.

Fabrigas led all rushers with 171 yards, scoring on touchdown runs of seven and six yards for Brethren Christian, which was playing its first on-campus homecoming game in 20 years.

The touchdowns gave the Warriors a 13-0 lead after their first two possessions of the game. Sage Hill then put together a solid drive, mixing inside handoffs to Ross and Dusty Orrantia with keepers by Colton Gyulay, that took the Lightning from their own 29 down to the Brethren Christian 17.

But on first down from there, Colton Gyulay was dropped for a six-yard loss by the Warriors’ Justin Pederson on the final play of the first quarter.

Two incomplete passes later, a 40-yard field-goal attempt by Ross had plenty of leg but hit the left upright and bounced away. Brethren Christian (3-6) responded with an 80-yard drive that quarterback Brad Hess, a Newport Beach resident, capped by throwing a 30-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Bell to make it 20-0.

The Lightning offense then went to work again. They marched down to the Brethren Christian 21-yard line but on second down from there, Randall Mycorn was dropped for a five-yard loss. A fourth-down pass was too high for Gyulay at the 13-yard line and the Warriors took over on downs.

Sage Hill got a spark from its defense on the first play from scrimmage in the second half. Although it looked as though Fabrigas was headed to the end zone on a huge run but after rambling 38 yards, the Lightning’s Taylor Petty put a big hit on Brethren Christian’s star running back to force a fumble which teammate Justin Barbour pounced on at the Sage Hill 42.

Two players later, Ross took a handoff around right end, hugged the Sage Hill sideline and broke away from a would-be tackler at the Brethren Christian 25 and strode into the end zone on a 57-yard scoring run.

Daniel Castle’s conversion made it 27-7 with 7:54 to go in the third quarter.

Brethren Christian answered immediately to push the lead back up to 27. Four players after Ross’ run, Matt Bodziak took a misdirection handoff and raced 54 yards for a score to put the Warriors up, 34-7. Before the quarter was out, Hess took a quarterback keeper nine yards to the end zone to make it 41-7.

Sage Hill plays its final home game Friday in a regular season finale against top-ranked St. Margaret’s.

A week ago, St. Margaret’s pinned a 70-6 defeat on Brethren Christian.

BRETHREN CHRISTIAN 41, SAGE HILL 7

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Sage Hill 0-0-7-0--7

Brethren 13-14-14-0--41

FIRST QUARTER

BC – Fabrigas 7 run (Castle kick), 7:29.

BC – Fabrigas 6 run (kick failed), 4:55.

SECOND QUARTER

BC – Bell 30 pass from Hess (Castle kick), 6:52.

BC – Bell 15 pass from Hess (Castle kick), 00:20.

THIRD QUARTER

SH – Ross 57 run (Ross kick), 10:21.

BC – Bodziak 54 run (Castle kick), 7:54.

BC – Hess 9 run (Draskovich kick), 00:51.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

SH – Ross, 12-95, 1 TD; Schumaker, 3-18; Randall, 3-48; Pederson, 1-26; Pereira, 1-3; Swinden, 1-4; Orrantia, 4-17; Mycorn, 3-minus 20; Reynolds, 5-20.

BC – Fabrigas, 17-171, 2 TDs; Bodziak, 4-59; Hess, 3-minus-7.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

SH – Mycorn, 6-13-0, 55.

BC – Hess, 13-19-0, 203, 2 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

SH – Jackson, 3-32; Multari, 1-14; Barbour, 1-9; Gyulay, 1-0.

BC – Bell, 4-106, 2 TDs; Fabrigas, 2-21; Bodziak, 4-49; Castle, 1-2; Roque, 1-25.