Saints pound Sage

IRVINE — Daniel Ruiz touched the ball twice in the first half Thursday night for the Crean Lutheran High football team.

Each time the senior touched it, good things happened for the Saints.

The first time, Ruiz was running a missed Sage Hill field goal back for a touchdown. The second time, Ruiz was intercepting an underthrown pass downfield.

The Lightning did not offer much more resistance in the second half of Crean Lutheran’s homecoming game. They fell to the Saints, 56-6, in the Academy League opener for both schools at Irvine High.

Sage Hill (1-6) suffered its fifth straight loss overall. Crean Lutheran racked up the touchdowns, similarly to when the teams met last year, with the bigger and more physical Saints earning a 77-41 victory that time.

This time, the Lightning didn’t give up so many points, but they also got nowhere near 41 points themselves. They scored their only touchdown in the third quarter on special teams, on a 93-yard kickoff return by senior David Dewey.

The Saints (5-2), tied for the No. 9 ranking in the CIF Southern Section Southwest Division, had their way otherwise.

“They’re a good team,” Sage Hill Coach Abram Booty said. “They’re a very big, physical team, and we’ve got to figure out a way not to wear down in the second half.”

Sage Hill actually played Crean Lutheran fairly even through a scoreless first quarter, and had a chance to score the game’s first points early in the second quarter on a 25-yard field goal attempt. The kick by senior Robbie Rosoff went directly into the ground and bounced a couple of times. Ruiz picked it up on his own five-yard line, and didn’t stop running until he was in the Sage Hill end zone.

“Robbie’s a great kicker, so I think it was a bad hold there,” Booty said. “It was a good play by [Ruiz], being heads up, picking it up and running it back … We made some mental errors. We had some momentum offensively in the first quarter, and even in the second quarter, but we didn’t capitalize on it. [Crean Lutheran] is a good football team. They definitely played better than us tonight. There’s nothing else you can say.”

Crean Lutheran built its lead to 21-0 by halftime and added four more touchdowns in the third quarter, producing a running clock. Saints tailback Garrett Cox, who is listed at 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds but showed a penchant for bouncing off would-be Sage Hill tacklers, finished with 12 carries for 100 yards and three touchdowns.

Overall, the hosts ran for 276 yards and five touchdowns. Tanner Atkinson had a one-yard touchdown run, and freshman Jack Johnson’s eight-yard scamper in the fourth quarter capped the scoring.

Saints quarterback Gavin Folsom threw for two touchdowns, both to senior receiver Daniel Albright, who had five receptions for 73 yards.

Sage Hill’s biggest play from scrimmage came early in the third quarter, when junior quarterback Caden Sheetz found senior receiver Jake Fisher on a 54-yard pass play. Fisher had missed last week’s game against University with a groin injury.

The Lightning did not get another key piece back, as junior receiver Jacob Copeland sat out his second straight game due to what Booty referred to last week as a school issue. Booty declined to comment on the status of Copeland, his nephew, after Thursday night’s game. The transfer from Texas had 391 receiving yards and five touchdowns in Sage Hill’s first five games.

Booty knows that his team will need to compete better next week at rival St. Margaret’s, which plays at Justin-Siena High of Napa on Saturday. The Tartans, top-ranked in the East Valley Division and the defending CIF champions, are 5-0. Sage Hill has its bye week after playing St. Margaret’s.

“We’ve just got to get better,” Booty said. “We will, though. I really believe we will. We’ve got good kids, and they fight hard. We’ve gotten a lot better, believe it or not, throughout the season. We just didn’t play very good tonight.”

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Crean Lutheran 56, Sage Hill 6

SCORE BY QUARTERS

SH 0 – 0 – 6 – 0 — 6

CL 0 – 21 – 28 – 7 — 56

SECOND QUARTER

CL – Ruiz 95 missed FG return (Richardson kick), 10:12.

CL – Cox 5 run (Richardson kick), 4:56.

CL – Cox 3 run (Richardson kick), 0:26.

THIRD QUARTER

CL – Albright 3 pass from Folsom (Richardson kick), 9:35.

CL – Albright 21 pass from Folsom (Richardson kick), 5:49.

SH – Dewey 93 kickoff return (kick failed), 5:34.

CL – Cox 13 run (Richardson kick), 3:23.

CL – Atkinson 1 run (Richardson kick), 1:10.

FOURTH QUARTER

CL – Johnson 8 run (Richardson kick), 6:35.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

SH – Sheetz, 4-34; Henry, 6-29.

CL – Cox, 12-100, 3 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

SH – Sheetz, 8-21-2, 92.

CL – Folsom, 14-20-0, 150, 2 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

SH – Fisher, 2-53.

CL – Albright, 5-73, 2 TDs.