Sage Hill Football Preview

Sage Hill (0-8, 0-1) vs. Crean Lutheran (4-4, 0-1)

When/where: Friday, 7 p.m. at Crean Lutheran

Key Lightning: Sr. DL-WR Thomas Fenner; Sr. RB-LB Joe Melita ( 602 yards, three TDs rushing); So. QB CJ McCord (466 yards, four TDs passing).

Key Saints: Sr. RB Blake Cox (508 yards, six TDs rushing); Sr. TE-S-PK Riley Tooker (243 yards, four TDs receiving); Sr. OG-NT Teddy Hung.

Breakdown: The Lightning are aiming to halt a 10-game losing streak, while the Saints are looking for their first league victory in the program’s four-year history, having lost all 10 of their Academy League games ... Sage Hill has lost three straight league games since beating Crean, 29-28, last season ... The Lightning have scored just 89 points in eight games and have given up 340 ... Crean has been outscored this season, 217-163 ... Crean’s four wins have come against teams with a combined record of 6-25 ... Sage, which has never had a winless season in a varsity history that began in 2002, has also never lost more than eight games in one season ... Hung and Tooker were first-team All-Academy League players last season ... The Saints opened the season with 15 returning starters on both sides of the ball ... Sage has outscored Crean, 129-48, in their three previous meetings ... Melita and Fenner are the Lightning’s leading tacklers.

— Barry Faulkner