Lightning Football News...

   

It was opening night of the 2004 Football season and the Joshua Springs Lightning (1-0) were on the road to play the Southlands Christian Eagles (0-2) at the Nogales High School stadium in Walnut, California. This was the second game of the season for the Eagles, they had lost their opener to Laton High School 34-22 only one week before. The Lightning had won their last three season openers and were looking to make it number four in a row.

A Lightning crowd of about 200 had made the 1 1/2 hour drive to see the first game of the year. These die-hard fans were anxious to see the 2004 squad in action. Nearly fifty players are playing for the Varsity Teams this year; the largest turn-out in the football program's eight year history. There are twenty six on JV and twenty two on Varsity. Of those twenty two varsity players, only eight are seniors.

Coach Jackie Roberts (42-14) is also excited entering his sixth season as the JS head coach. "I feel good about this year's team, but we are facing the hardest schedule in our history". The Lightning will be playing six teams that were in the playoffs last year. They have no room for error. They have to bring their "A" game every time they hit the field. The Lightning, under Coach Roberts, are 30-5 over the last 3 years with two trips to the CIF 8-man state championship.

Tonight's game didn't start too well for the Lightning as #9 Junior QB - Tim Krapivkin got picked off on the first play of the game by an Eagle defender who ran the ball down to the Lightning 22 yd line. A few plays later, the Eagles fumbled the ball on the Lightning 19 yd line and the Lightning got it back. The Lightning offense finally got to clicking when #34 Junior Tony Garrido got loose on a 25 yd run for a 1st down in Eagle territory. Next, Krapivkin hit #21 Junior Kevin Adair for 12yds to the Eagles 8 yd line. Then with 5:59 left in the first quarter Krapivkin scored on a QB keeper up the middle. The Lightning were ahead 7-0 after the extra point by Adair.

In the next series, the Lightning got a great look at the Eagles star running back #1 Nathan Arrietta as he ran the Lightning defense all over the field trying to catch him. With 3:32 left in the first quarter the Eagles scored making it 7-6 Lightning. The Eagles were stopped on the two point attempt.

The Eagles kicked off and there was confusion on the part of a Lightning player as he just let the ball roll on the ground, as if it was a punt, and an Eagle player pick it up and ran with it all the way to the Lightning 18 yd line. A few plays later the Eagles scored again making the score 7-12 Eagles. The Eagles then tried a 2-pt conversion and it was good. The Lightning were now down 7-14 with 45 seconds left in the first quarter.

The second quarter was a battle of the defenses as both teams went back and forth until the 4:37 mark, when Krapivkin threw his second interception of the night and the Eagles took over in Lightning territory. The defense held tough creating a fumble and making it 3rd and 18 for the Eagles. Then Arrietta broke through the line and scored with 2:32 left in the half, making it 7-22 Eagles after the 2-pt conversion was good.

I think the whole Joshua Springs side of the field were stunned at this point. Coach Roberts was definitely not happy, so much so, he just let the last 25 seconds run off the clock without attempting a play. It was time for a heart-to-heart with his players.

The 2nd half was a whole different story. The Lightning hit the field fired up and it show as they took the ball and marched down the field. At the 11:16 mark, Garrido took a 2-yd plunge to score and it was 13-22. The Lightning attempted a fake extra point kick and it failed.

The Eagles put together a series of running plays that was eating up the clock a few yards at a time. The Lightning defense was not giving up any big plays. At the 3:25 mark, the Lightning stopped the Eagles and took over. The Lightning then gave the Eagles a dose of their own medicine by marching down the field with all running plays.

At the 11:57 mark of the fourth quarter, Krapivkin broke through the line and scored on a QB keeper making the score 19-22. Then Garrido scored the 2-pt conversion and the Lightning were now within one point as the score was 21-22 Eagles.

The Eagles were running the ball and the Lightning defense was stopping them, making them go to 4th down, twice, to get a 1st down in this series. Then finally with 6:60 left, the Lightning took over the ball after a sack by #23 Junior Daniel Doran. The Lightning was getting stiff defense from the Eagles and finally with just 37 seconds left in the game Garrido Scored his last TD of the game and sealing the victory. Adiar kicked the extra point and the Lightning won 28-22.

Garrido had 167 yd's rushing in the game and Krapivkin had 52. The Lightning showed a lot of character as a team, shutting out the Eagle offense in the second half and coming back 21 straight points against a pretty good Eagle defense.

The Lightning take on Bloomington Christian this Saturday night (9/18) at Lightning Stadium at 7:00PM. Come out early and get some BBQ, bring the whole family. See you there!

Lightning JV win 50-0 over Southland Christian!

JV running back Eddie Nixon runs for 3 TD's and QB Jesse Frazier gets two more as the Lightning JV end the game in three quarters by a 8-man Mercy ruling. More on this one as the stats come in.

Next game for the Lightning JV is on 9/23 against Riverside Christian.