Orrantia goes to work

Dusty Orrantia stepped on the football field a changed player. He can say the same for the rest of his Sage Hill School teammates surviving last year’s 2-8 season.

As the Lightning kicked off the season at home last week, two things stood out.

The final score is obvious: Sage Hill 28, Fairmont Prep 26.

Without the start, there is no upset of the No. 9-ranked team in the CIF Southern Section Northeast Division preseason coaches’ poll.

“I felt we were actually prepared this year,” Orrantia said of playing Fairmont Prep in the opener for the second straight year. “Last year, [we were] just kind of like ... iffy. We weren’t sure.

“Toward the end of the season, we weren’t even into it. Our heads weren’t into it.”

The Lightning heads are now full of confidence. Six months of grueling work has instilled a work ethic in Orrantia and his teammates.

The season is a grind, starting well before August. Orrantia remembers rising out of bed at 5 a.m. four days out of the week to arrive at school a half hour later.

No one wakes up early for nothing.

The commitment has allowed a new brand of football to arrive at the private Newport Coast school. Orrantia calls it a new era.

Coach J.R. Tolver, in his first year, sees it as a revolution.

“The harder you work,” Tolver tells his players, “the harder it is to surrender.”

In Week Zero, the Lightning showed they aren’t giving up.

They can’t. There aren’t enough bodies to back up everyone.

Orrantia is one of nine two-way starters. On both sides of the field, the senior excelled in the opener.

Orrantia might want to consider turning his No. 45 jersey in for a No. 14.

Fourteen times he made a tackle as the middle linebacker.

Fourteen times he carried the ball as the fullback.

The carries weren’t as surprising to Orrantia as his yards on the ground.

“I was surprised at my actual performance,” said Orrantia, who rushed for 122 yards. “Coach told me I was going to get 16-20 [carries]. I got 14. I was stoked.”

Fourteen meant five more carries than Sage Hill’s featured running back.

Fullbacks tend to block for the tailback. They almost never finish with more touches than the tailback.

Taylor Ross, who also topped 100 yards last week, is the more elusive back. Yet, on one run, Orrantia, a 6-foot-1, 200-pounder, displayed his breakaway speed.

A fullback dive, intended for a handful of yards, gained 41 yards. Tolver has given his backfield a nickname, one with the team name in it.

“We kind of have our own version of Thunder and Lightning,” said Tolver, adding Orrantia is Thunder and Ross is Lightning. “[Ross] can take it the distance at any time.

“Dusty is a bigger kid. He’s a bruiser. He’s a pounder. He’s going to make you pay for tackling him.”

Orrantia wants to get payback for what transpired last season to Sage Hill.

Two teams hammered the Lightning, ending any hope for a playoff berth out of the Academy League. Brethren Christian won, 41-7, and St. Margaret’s closed out the regular season with a 56-0 victory.

Sage Hill finishes the regular season at rival St. Margaret’s on Nov. 13. The Tartans currently hold the state’s longest winning streak at 44 games.

Orrantia is looking forward to another date with the Tartans, the defending champions of the Academy League, CIF Southern Section East Valley Division and CIF State Small Schools Division Bowl.

“Every year we always talk about it,” Orrantia said of beating St. Margaret’s for the first time. “I actually think this is the year we’re going to compete.

“It would cap off my senior year [if we end St. Margaret’s winning streak]. It would be just so perfect.”