Sage Hill absorbs first defeat

NEWPORT COAST — Cowbells rang throughout the stands, making their way to the football field. Uncommon sounds at Sage Hill School for sure.

But everything that transpired Friday appeared off, from the sounds to the sights.

A coach on the Bakersfield Christian sideline donned a cowboy hat. Everyone noticed, and each time he yelled watching his defense take the field, he drew more attention. If you thought the visiting fans were raucous, his defense rocked.

Ask Sage Hill quarterback Jamie McGee. The annoying bells were OK, the ringing in his helmet, caused by hits, not so much.

The sounds eventually faded as did the Lightning’s chance to remain unbeaten. Sage Hill lost, 47-0, eliminating any chance to duplicate the magical season of two years ago, when it won its first eight en route to earning the program’s first playoff win.

The playoffs are a ways away, but first-year coach Pete Anderson finally saw something hit Sage Hill (4-1) hard.

“Did that rattle you, when they scored that first touchdown?” he questioned his players on one knee, appearing depleted.

Nearby stood McGee, who coming into the nonleague game against the No. 1-ranked team in CIF Central Section Division V had hurt every other defense, posting 1,247 passing yards and 17 touchdowns.

The key is every other defense, because the Eagles (5-0) chased the quarterback throughout, sacking him four times to jump out to a 40-0 halftime lead over the No. 8-ranked team in the CIF Southern Section Northeast Division.

In shotgun with the extra space, McGee still looked as though he was trying to maneuver inside a cramped closet. Bodies flew at him in every direction, the defense stacking the line with eight players. When McGee bought time, scrambling for the sideline before getting hammered, he threw it away.

His father, Jim, who this year has been a busy man keeping stats for Sage Hill, counted 15 times McGee threw it out of bounds. The underneath stuff, nothing worked, with balls getting batted down at the line.

A couple of wide receiver screens, Nick Witte, McGee’s top man so far, got tangled up. The passes hit the ground, so did McGee. He finished nine for 34 for 134 yards passing, including throwing his first two interceptions of the season.

“Now we know what it feels like to lose like this,” said McGee, a big reason why the Lightning before Friday had blown out the opposition in the last three games by a margin of more than five touchdowns. “I’m really disappointed as a four-year starter. This is definitely the worst game that we have played [during my career].”

Before the second half started, McGee threw for only 21 yards. The last time he had numbers like that was Nov. 5, 2004, when he threw for 18 yards and Sage Hill suffered a 49-0 loss to Academy League rival St. Margaret’s.

The offense kept going to the air, forced to with Bakersfield Christian running back Christian Taylor’s five-TD performance and Sage Hill turning the ball over on downs and special team blunders. “I heard that the quarterback was No. 1 in everything,” said Taylor as he crossed paths with teammate Shawn Garrett, a cornerback disrupting McGee’s rhythm.

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].