Broken trident

By Michael Ashcraft --

In its season opener, Lighthouse's offense was about as effective as Iran's ballistic missile launch against Israel.

In game 2, Coach David Burns reconfigured positions and the Saints went from feckless to fierce. In the first 10 minutes, Lighthouse Christian Academy from Santa Monica scored two goals off free kicks to the low left corner of goal to frighten the mighty Newbury Park Adventist Academy.

Then one of the stars powering performance had a complete meltdown. A.M. for a foul got a yellow card, for dissent a second yellow card and then for an unpleasant hand gesture at the ref a third yellow card.

No, actually, you can't get three yellow cards, but you can get into loads of trouble with the league for flagrant unsportsman-like behavior. I mean, he wasn't exactly waving hi at the guy.

Now playing 10 against the Newbury Park's 11, the deluge of goals came. The Gators put the bite on the Saints, who lost 3-7.

The good news is M., summoning his courage to recognize his errors, asked forgiveness of the ref after the game.

The other good news is that the Saints still were a force to reckoned with. They continued to mount attacks, even though outnumber, and create danger.

Genius player Exjani Rojas was tearing all over the field, getting and keeping possession, creating havoc with passes for goal-scoring opportunities.

The midfielder played it cool as a CIA spot, pretending to pull up his socks and rest, while the Gators did a goal kick, only to see sneaky Exjani pounce on a bad pass and poach a third goal, a brace for him.

Zion Jenkins, a football player, not a soccer player, dazzled with speed and dominance in the midfield, intuitively winning one-on-ones against experienced players.

Zion -- who credits "Lighthouse grit" for his recovery from his season-ending football injury to get out on the soccer field -- opened scoring for the Saints with an early free kick bullet that went over the wall and baffled the goalie into the left corner.

Lighthouse goalie Nile Hosni made more saves than anyone can remember (since the school doesn't bring a stats man to their games). But the football player in him erupted when an attacking player from the Gators got a little too, let's just say, close and personal for his liking. Nile pushed him.

Of course, that resulted in a yellow card, a penalty shot and a goal. It was the second penalty that Lighthouse awarded.

If the hot heads can keep their heads, they can win.

As the Marines say, battles are won within.