Lightning Football News...

The largest crowd for a sporting event in the history of Joshua Springs could only stand by and watch as time ran out and their hopes of a Lightning State Championship! It was the best 8-Man Large Division Championship game ever played in the opinion of many coaches that attended Friday Night, it was certainly the biggest game of the Joshua Springs 6 year tackle football program. The Lightning are no strangers to playoffs having qualified for post season play 5 out of the 6 years the program has existed. In 1998 the Lightning played their first playoff game ever against Price Christian out of Los Angeles and lost in the first round. Price went on to the State Championship that year. This is the second year in a row that the Lightning have made it to the State Championship game. The Lightning played Rio Hondo Prep of Arcadia last year for the 8-man Small Division Championship and lost in overtime 34-28.

The Lightning have acomplished more in their first 6 years than any other 8-man program in California. The last two years the Lightning are 23-2 over-all, they were undefeated during the regular season 9-0 both years winning 2 back-to-back Agape League Championships. The Offense defeated 16 teams by 45 or more points creating a mercy rule in each of those games and the Defense created 11 shut-outs and allowed less than 7 points a game over the 25 games.

Tonight's game was one of big plays. The Lightning, ranked #1 in the state, struck first driving to the 1-yd line where Justin Peterson (#77) broke through for the TD and it was 7-0 with the extra point. Then the Cougars, Ranked #3 in the state, scored when #2 Matt Williams ran around the end and got lose for a 44-yd run to the end zone that surprised the Lightning defense. It was now 7-7 with the extra point. That ended the first quarter.

In the second quarter Jordan Leichtner (#43) picked off a Cougar pass and the Lightning took over on the Cougar 38-yd line. The Lightning marched down the field and Nathan Rynning (#12) hit Justin Peterson on a 3-yd pass and the score was 14-7 with the extra point. The Cougars got the ball on the kick-off and marched down the field and got into field goal range where the Cougar kicker Chase Agard booted one in from 22-yds out. The score at the half was 14-10, Joshua Springs.

The third quarter was a scoreless one for both teams. The Lightning got a chance when Robert "Tiny" Masaniai (#70) recovered a fumble but the Cougars held tough and the Lightning were not able to take advantage of it. The Lightning dodged a bullet when Williams got lose again for a TD, but it was called back because of a Crack-Back penality against the Cougars. The Lightning played tough defense and the Cougars went for a field goal and missed, ending the third quarter.

Just a few seconds into the fourth quarter Williams got through the Lightning line for a 3-yd plunge to pay dirt and the score was 17-14 with the extra point. The Lightning then marched down the field but the drive was stopped on the cougar 30 yd line. But the powerful foot of Nathan Rynning booted a 40-yd field goal and the score was tied 17-17 with 10 minutes left. The final score came when the Cougar's Williams broke free for a 16-yd TD run with 6 minutes left making the score 24-17 cougars. The Lightning began their march to tie the game which would take up the next 5 minutes off the clock. But with a first down on the 14-yd line the Cougar's defense stiffened and the Lightning ran out of downs with 40 seconds left on the clock. That is just how close the game was at the end. The Cougars took a knee on the next play and the game ended. It was a well coached, well played game on both sides. Other stand out players on offense were Jesse Mock (#55), Johnathan "Jake" Henley (#28) and Steven Wilcox (#32) Defensive standouts were Tom Robinson (#37), Bryan Bates (#75), Chris Bridenstine (#83) and Jacob Holz (#63).

We want to congratulate the Lightning coaches, players, parents and fans for a awesome year.

The next step for the Lightning will be the 8-Man all star game which will be held in the summer and many of our Seniors will be asked to participate. We will update you as to when it will be.

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