Lightning Football News...

The Lightning (7-4, 5-0) are going to the CIF 8-Man Divisional Championships for the 5th time in the last 8 years! The Lightning hosted the #1 ranked Big Pine Warriors on Friday, November 28th at Lightning stadium. The Warriors came to Lightning stadium averaging 49.7 pts per game and were ready to show the Lightning why they were ranked #1. The #4 ranked Lightning had a surprise for them... Defense!

The Lightning defense shut down the powerful Warriors only allowing them to score 6 pts in the first half. The Lightning offense managed to get 14 pts on the board in the first half as they made adjustments to the Warrior defense. Freshman Erik McClay had two picks in the first quarter which let the Warriors know it was going to be a long night if they were going to keep throwing his way and the Lightning defense stopped the Warrior running game except for one big play that gave the Warriors a 42-yd TD run for their only score in the first half. The Lightning scored first when McClay returned one of his picks all the way to the Warrior 4-yd line. Two plays later Tyler Carlisle punched it in for a score. The Lightning scored again in the 2nd quarter making the score 14-6 after the 2pt conversion.

The 2nd half was an explosion of offense for the Lightning as they went on to win 56-24. The Warriors only scored twice from scrimmage, two of the scores were from kickoff returns. All of the Lightning's eight scores and four 2-pt conversions were from scrimmage. Lightning QB Zack Ontiveros had a career-high night of passing and set a new school record for "passing yds in a game" by completing 16 of 36 for 285, 5 TDs and 3 -2pt conversions.

Offensive highlights - Josh Leichtner had 6 catches for 58 yds, 2 TDs and 2 - 2pt conversions, Denzell Dobbins had 5 catches for 111 yds and 1 TD, Cole Roberts had 4 catches for 113 yds and 2 TDs, and Stephen Henderson had 1 catch for 3 yds and a 2pt conversion. Roberts also had 33 rushes for 107 yds and 2 TDs, Tyler Carlisle had 8 carries for 12 yds and a TD, Ontiveros had 5 carries for 3 yds and a 2pt conversion and Henderson had 4 carries for 30 yds.

On defense, Henderson had 17 tackles, 9 solo, 5 pass defenses and a tackle for a loss, Roberts had 10 tackles, 1 sack, 2 QB hurries, a caused fumble and a fumble recovery, Leichtner had 8 tackles, .5 sacks and an interception, McClay had 5 tackles, 3 interceptions, fumble recovery and 2 pass defenses, Vinny Ames had 1 tackle, 1.5 sacks, a QB hurry, caused fumble and a blocked kick, Dobbins had 5 tackles, .5 sacks and a QB hurry, Ryan Parker had 4 tackles, .5 sacks, QB hurry and a fumble recovery, Carlisle had 5 tackles, and a Pass Defense, Chris Crase has 2 tackles and Sean Miller had 1 tackle.

Next up is a road trip to Palm Springs, CA to play Desert Chapel for the CIF 8-Man Division II championship on Friday Dec. 5th at 7:00PM. The Lightning have played Desert Chapel 3 times and defeated them by 45 pts each time. This year, however, is going to be different because this team has a lot of weapons and a balanced running and passing attack. This will be one exciting Championship game. Transportation is being put together for those who wish to go to the game. Please call the school office at 760-365-3599 for more information.