Sports
Reggae rhythms
Lighthouse closed its table-climbing season with a win in soccer against Ojai Valley Wednesday
By Michael Ashcraft --
To the slow and sultry syncopation of the music that runs his head, Marley plays soccer. He doesn't play to the acid rock of speed and crash. He doesn't play to the music of the salsa or the cumbia.
Like his Jamaican namesake, Marley can't be hurried. He looks lazy; he lets balls go.
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Then when his easy-going undulating soccer has put defenders to sleep (like Messi who spends much of a game walking), Marley pounces.
In the last minutes of Wednesday's game, Marley Rancipher pounced for two goals to assure Lighthouse Christian Academy's victory over Ojai Valley School 6-4.
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They were the last goals of the table-climbing season that saw Lighthouse metamorphize from a losing team to one that must be reckoned with. LCA has won four of the last five games.
Lighthouse agonized through indolent play, going up quickly to two points, only to carelessly concede two goals. The Spuds (Ojai's name) equalized to every goal. It became 3-3, then 4-4.
That's when Marley, who's Haitian and Jewish, decided to sink Ojai's hopes for a respectable end of season. Showing speed he hadn't been displaying through most of the game, he beat the offside trap and race forward with the ball and cross it high and in front of the goalie to hit the far post. It was 5-4.
It was enough to win. But Marley wasn't done. He repeated the race a second time up the right lane to neatly chip past the goalie to make it 6-4.
Marley also gave two assists in the final tally of the game.
His work brought a gasp of relief to the Saints fans who agonized watching a close game that should have been put away surgically.
The Saints lost Monday's game 1-7 against league leaders Newbury Park Adventist Academy.
Prior, they tore on a three-game winning streak, shocking Pilgrim School and then beating Gorman Learning Center followed by the first face-up with Ojai.
Lighthouse will finish the season in the middle of the table (maybe upper middle), due to its late showing of strength. The improvement represents significant progress after last year's season, which saw the late re-start of Lighthouse's program after Covid.
In Wednesday's game, also scoring were Christian Boatwright, Zeke Young and Zion Jenkins.
