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Schools

Muscles downloading

Caleb Campos was a tough defender in Lighthouse's soccer season opener. LCA lost 0-4.

Caleb Campos, left, with this buddy and fellow player Alex Brick.
Caleb Campos, left, with this buddy and fellow player Alex Brick. (Photo credit: Mike Ashcraft)

By Michael Ashcraft --

Only recently did Caleb Campos start going to the gym.

But the results showed Tuesday when he became the tough defender in Lighthouse’s game against Beacon Hill Classical Academy, which the Saints lost 0-4.

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“I can’t imagine a future which I’m not buff,” the junior said. “Working out kind of prepared me. Usually, I would be out of breath very quickly. But this time I didn’t get tired. I was able to give it 100%.”

In fact, Caleb won more balls than the fellows with the fancy feet in the midfield who juked one player, two players, but invariably lost the ball eventually. They need to learn to make passes.

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Turnovers weren’t the only problem that Lighthouse Christian Academy of Santa Monica faced in their soccer season opener. With so many beginning players, they had trouble knowing where to be on the field, make passes, talk to each other, throw ins, goal kicks and free kicks. The list goes on.

Beacon Hill played just like their mascot name the griffins. They fought and won in the air and on the ground.

LCA’s David Burns, as new coach for the Saints, still saw positives in the game. Specifically, he praised the players for only conceding one goal in the second half.

“There’s a lot of things to build on for sure,” he said. “We’re only gonna get better.”

Game one, after all, was about trying different people in different positions to see what works.

Zion Jenkins, centerpiece for the defense last year, was promoted late in the game to the midfield where he was dominant.

Morgan Miles, who didn’t see too much playing time last year, was key in the defense, tough like Caleb.

“I made myself mad,” he said. Psyching himself up to put out all his energy did the trick. Yeah, mad man Morgan.

The Saints team featured a member of girls who generally were too polite or too afraid to body the guys. One of them, Bethania Wonagseged, ought to offer a lot; her dad played for the Ethiopian national team before immigrating to the United States.

The lighthouse team is like the United Nations, players from parents from Ethiopia, Egypt, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, etc. Moving forward they need to not be like the United Nations, which can never agree on anything and never work together.

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