Rock Like An Egyptian

By Michael Ashcraft --

He probably misheard the Bangles' song "Walk Like an Egyptian."

Kiro Abdalla, born of immigrant Egyptian parents, ROCKED last night's and last week's team with double digit tackles -- some of which left opponents dizzy and hurt.

What is surprising about this?

In person, Kiro doesn't appear to be a terrifying behemoth. He's short and skinny. Kiro comes off as an Ivy League nerd, a future doctor or lawyer. Yeah, the brainiac's got a bright career ahead.

But there he was Friday night, with a dozen sacks and tackles, rocking adversaries, just like the week prior.

"Building those pyramids got us somewhere I guess," Kiro quipped.

Despite his performance, despite the rest of the team which gave all and left blood, sweat and tears on the field, Lighthouse lost against East Valley High School 24-28.

A last fourth quarter drive was held at the 7-yard line. The Saints were worn down and beaten by a team who numbered about as much as the entire school population at Lighthouse Christian Academy of Santa Monica.

The physical Falcon defensive line pressed through to sack Quarterback Justice Neos.

Their numbers were not the only reason they won. Their intel also helped.

Falcons Coach attended and filmed Lighthouse's previous game. Armed with intimate knowledge of strengths and weaknesses, the Falcons ran riot in the first quarter (0-14) to rack up a couple of early TDs. Ultimately, these proved critical.

Lighthouse had no such similar intel. The players and coaches were measuring their adversaries in real time. Eventually, the Saints locked down and limited the Falcons (only two more touchdowns in three quarters).

Meanwhile, Lighthouse's offense was feckless early in the game. Incomplete passes. A hike that launched over the QB for a fourth down loss of yards. A pass that bounced off a defender and was intercepted on the rebound by a Falcon.

It didn't stay that way. The turnaround on offense came in the second quarter with a long pass to Senior Zion Jenkins, who ran to the 1-yard line. Bulldozer Justice ran it and the follow-up conversion attempt into the end zone.

The momentum had shifted.

LCA pressed on defense and got a safety. On a kickoff return, Justice broke three tackles in a TD run that shone the glories of his heavenly hopes as a Christian.

At half, the score was 18-20, and the Saints smelled victory.

In the third quarter, neither team scored. Twice on kickoff, LCA foiled East Valley's onside kick attempts to distance themselves from the Saints. Little Man John Abdalla (Kiro's younger brother and a freshman) smothered one, and Big Man Nile Hosni got possession of another.

A complete newbie to football, Exjani Rojas made his first catch and followed that up with an interception.

In the fourth quarter, LCA surpassed the Falcons with a TD pass to Zion, who was back to his can't-miss-a-pass ways. The score was 24-20.

East Valley went back to its running, faking, pitching game from the first quarter, and the old tricks worked again. The Falcons made one more touchdown, bringing the score to 24-28 (with a conversion).

The last drive of the game belonged to Lighthouse. Justice pulled a "Justice special" -- not a route called in the huddle but a wild, direction-changing, strong arm-employing, spinning, tackle-breaking, shoulder-down mashup that ended after about 20 yards.

Another catch from Zion brought the Saints to the 7-yard line and a first down.

There were 46 seconds in the game, and LCA knew they were going to snatch the W. The Egyptian's rocking performance had paid off.

But something else was happening all the time. After every play, three Falcons came off the field, three Falcon flew on. With every down, the team of 45 players was getting rest and recovery. By contrast, Lighthouse has a regular team of only eight guys playing 8-man football for both offense and defense.

It was the last drive, and the same eight guys who stood up to the physical Falcons and returned bone-crunching block and tackle for equal carnage for four quarters, those guys were beleaguered. They could not hide the pain in their bodies.

Lighthouse was out of timeouts.

As they stood seven yards from victory, the ultimate underdogs visualized prevailing over their more numerous opponents.

Flexing the advantage of rest and recovery, the Falcon D-line broke through blocks -- on all four downs. On the last down, they sacked the hapless Lighthouse QB, avenging his other runs that had stung like a whip on the back of a Roman criminal.

Grown men -- no longer boys -- cried.

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About this reporter: Mike Ashcraft teaches journalism and writing at the Lighthouse Christian Academy. He is so old he once danced to Walk Like an Egyptian. He didn't dance very well, so he resorted to writing.