Football: Sage Hill edged on road

ESCONDIDO — Sage Hill School traveled to Escondido to face Classical Academy on Saturday. The Caimans don’t have a football field on campus, so they typically play their home games at nearby Orange Glen High.

At halftime, the school made an announcement to the crowd that it was ready to move into a new building next week. The home fans cheered. They had more reason to celebrate after Classical Academy beat the Lightning, 29-21, in a nonleague game.

The facility the Caimans are relocating to used to house a newspaper company. They earned a headline for defeating Sage Hill in a close one for the second straight year.

Classical Academy (3-1), a CIF San Diego Section Division 5 team, gashed the Lightning (2-3), from the CIF Southern Section East Valley Division. The Caimans ran tailbacks Blaine Fletcher and Ryley Racciato, and quarterback Mark Fuson all night. Fletcher rushed 28 times for 182 yards, Racciato 17 times for 139 yards and a touchdown, and Fuson rushed for a 51-yard touchdown.

Fuson’s score, coming on a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-inches near midfield, hurt the Lightning the most. He needed just a yard to move the chains, but he went the distance to put the Caimans up, 29-13, with 3:12 left to go.

Sage Hill cut the deficit to eight points in a hurry. Fifth-one seconds is all it needed, thanks to quarterback CJ McCord’s arm and legs. McCord found a wide-open Zach Burns for a 28-yard touchdown. Burns was McCord’s favorite target, finishing with 10 catches for 111 yards.

To make it a one-score game, McCord ran in the two-point conversion. McCord, who completed 18 of 34 passes for 199 yards and rushed five times for 45 yards and a touchdown, wouldn’t see the ball again.

The Caimans recovered the onside kick, and they gave the ball to Fletcher to run out the clock. While Fletcher moved the chains three times on the final drive, it was Racciato’s runs on fourth down that burned the Lightning earlier.

Fourth down proved to be the toughest for Sage Hill to stop Racciato. Sage Hill didn’t expect Racciato to run the ball on fourth down, but the Caimans hiked the ball his way on three fake punts. The first time, a holding call nullified his 20-yard run 4 minutes into the second quarter.

No one stopped Racciato 4 minutes into the second half.

The Caimans had recovered a McCord fumble on their 40-yard line. Four plays later, on fourth-and-nine, Racciato received the snap and went to the right, toward the sideline, where he bounced off would-be tacklers and scored on a 59-yard fake punt play. Classical Academy took a 22-7 lead.

The hosts appeared on their way to extending the lead after the Caimans ran Racciato again on a fake punt with 2:39 left in the third quarter. He gained 15 yards, 10 more than he needed for the first down. Classical Academy reached Sage Hill’s 12, before it turned the ball over on downs.

The defensive stance ignited the Lightning offense. Sage Hill went 88 yards on nine plays, capping the drive with McCord’s 15-yard touchdown run. The team decided to go for a two-point conversion, only to see linebacker Eric Fuson deflect McCord’s pass, which fell incomplete.

Fuson, the brother of the quarterback, made sure Mark Fuson was the standout signal caller on Saturday. While Fuson didn’t throw it much, only nine times for 50 yards, two of his three completions went for touchdowns in the opening quarter. The lefty hit Kyle Kirby for a 17-yard touchdown pass and Adam Soberon for a 21-yard touchdown pass.

The Caimans never trailed, and hung on for another single-digit win against the Lightning.

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Classical Academy 29, Sage Hill 21

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Sage Hill 7 – 0 – 0 – 14 — 21

Classical Acad. 15 – 0 – 7 – 7 — 29

FIRST QUARTER

CA – Kirby 17 pass from Fuson (Vansant kick), 8:13.

SH – Henry 23 run (Strelow kick), 5:54.

CA – Soberon 21 pass from Fuson (Fletcher run), 1:37.

THIRD QUARTERCA – Racciato 59 run (Vansant kick), 8:39.

FOURTH QUARTER

SH – McCord 15 run (pass failed), 6:57.

CA – Fuson 51 run (Vansant kick), 3:12.

SH – Burns 28 pass from McCord (McCord run), 2:21.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

SH – McCord, 5-45, 1 TD.

CA – Fletcher, 28-182.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

SH – McCord, 18-34-0, 199, 1 TD.

CA – Fuson, 3-9-0, 50, 2 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

SH – Burns, 10-111, 1 TD.

CA – Soberon, 1-21, 1 TD.