Who was #9?

By Nazarii Baytler and Michael Ashcraft --

Saints fans spent the whole game Saturday against Meadows School waiting for Lighthouse’s now-typical late game rally.

They thought they saw it when a totally unrecognizable player intercepted a long pass late the second quarter. Who is number 9? fans asked.

The 5’3”, 130-pounder was easily the shortest and smallest player on the field. Saturday’s was his first game because, new to the school, Johnny Flores was ruled out of the first month of games.

Unfortunately, Johnny’s brilliant pick didn’t spark an LCA comeback.

Nor did Marcus Scribner’s block of a field goal attempt.

Nor did a TD run by the senior Marcus in the third quarter.

Nothing could reboot LCA.

The prince's kiss didn't wake the sleeping princess. The glass slipper never find Cinderella's foot. The frog croaked unheard and unfound in the stream. There was no fairy tale ending.

Lighthouse limped to 7-68 loss to Meadows School, which traveled from Las Vegas because there reportedly aren’t many 8-man private school teams in Sin City so they have to pick up games wherever they can and usually travel far.

Lighthouse Christian Academy looked like the car that keeps stalling out on the road.

Missing was their bulldogish determination to bring the game to bigger players and humble bigger schools. The Saints didn’t run with typical speed or break their opponents with scary hits. They fumbled and ran into each other. There weren’t too many bright spots.

“We made a lot of mistakes. We lacked a lot of heart and effort,” surmised Head Coach Zach Scribner grimly. “We got a lot of work to do. If we don’t want to feel like this, we’ve got to make practice a priority. At practice we’ve got to give 110% so that when we’re in the game, we know what it’s like.”

Two weeks ago, Lighthouse made Milken Community School wish for the third and fourth quarters to be over. The Saints wore down their opponents with hard hit after hard hit. Even though LCA lost, they evidently outplayed and outscored Milken in the second half.

That type of come back run went AWOL against Meadows. Except for Coach Zach, none of the coaches wished to debrief the team. They stood by with pursed lips.

But Johnny came away with a bit more optimism.

“We were lacking a little bit of confidence. They came out aggressive at first. We should have come out better,” Johnny says. “I came from Redondo for a better start and school in general. Things weren’t going so well in Redondo.”

His mom decided that transferring the junior, he said, to a Christian school might help. So far he seems to be responding.

“The guys were so welcoming and kind. From the first day, they treated me like family, so I appreciate that,” Johnny says.

The diminutive figure says he doesn’t get intimidated by bigger opponents. “I’m never afraid. I hit as hard as I can.”

Of all the players and fans, Johnny was perhaps the least glum after Saturday's result.

“We have great coaches,” Johnny says. “The team is made of a good group of guys. I feel like we can go far with this group of guys. I’m going to just try to be the best I can be.”

Here are prior articles:

• Against Teach Tech.
• Against Downey Calvary Chapel.
• Against Beacon Hill Classical Academy.
• Against Milken Community School.