Lightning Football News...

It was a very emotional night for the Lightning football program as an appreciative audience said goodbye to their 2009 seniors and their head coach for the last 10 years, Jackie Roberts.

After a wonderful meal and the annual "Best Hits" of the year video presentation, coach Roberts walked everyone down memory lane as he elaborated about each team over the last 10 years, the success each team had, and how each player was special to him. The 2009 seniors returned the favor to Coach Roberts as each one told the audience how much Roberts had affected their lives over the last 4 years and their outlook on the future.

Then came the top player awards for the 2008 season. The JV team finished the year 6-2 and had two huge wins over arch-rival Faith Baptist. The award winners on JV were Kris Teague who received "JV Offensive Player of the Year", Brandon Harshaw who received "JV Defensive Player of the Year" and Michael Samu who was "JV Lineman of the Year".

The varsity team finished the year 7-5 while winning their 5th straight Agape League Championship and making their 5th trip (in eight years) to the CIF Divisional championship. Varsity award winners were Cole Roberts who received the Agape League "Most Valuable Player" award, All State Award and was voted the 2008 Lightning MVP by his coaches. Steven Henderson received the "Defensive Player of the Year" award, All State and All Agape League, Zack Ontiveros received "Co-Offensive Player of the Year", All State and All Agape League, Josh Leichtner received "Co-Offensive Player of the Year", All State and All Agape League, Tyler Carlisle received "Ironman of the Year, All State and All Agape League, Vincent Ames received "Defensive Lineman of the Year", All State and All Agape League and Tyler Erickson received "Offensive Lineman of the Year", All State and All Agape League and Ryan Parker received the "Most Improved Player of the Year" and All Agape League.

Coach Roberts then introduced his replacement head coach for next year, Israel Hagerman, who has been the Junior High Football coach for the last nine years. Roberts spoke about the coaching system that was in place and that it was time to hand the reins over to the next generation who he expects to take the football program to even greater heights in the future.