Mighty Mouse runs the ball for Lighthouse Christian Academy

He's been called Mighty Mouse, a bulldog, a pinball and a Rubik's Cube (he's about as tall as he's wide). Teachers and students have mistaken him for a sixth grader.

Lighthouse Christian Academy's freshman center, Hosea Ashcraft, became its predominant running back Friday against Cornerstone Christian of Wildomar. He had 20 carries for about 70 yards and one touchdown in the 12-58 loss to the Crusaders.

LCA's fearsome football program has been reduced to this: its core is four freshman, its quarterback is a scrawny sophomore, its lone senior is an artist who really doesn't want to play but goes to games just to help the guys field an 8-man football team with nine players.

Successive lean enrollments in recent years have shrunk the quarry from which they cut their tough stuff. So they resorted to the 5'1" pre-pubescent fresh meat, Hosea.

"Defensively, we were terrible," said Coach Zach Scribner. "We're not doing what we told the kids to do in terms of making their reads. Everybody's looking around trying to figure out where the ball is instead of making the read and reacting off the read."

Indeed, the Crusaders overran LCA's defense like Fort Apache. By the second quarter, they had racked up 38 points. They may have even stepped off the gas pedal in anticipation of an easy shutout when the Santa Monica Saints surprised them.

LCA players made some key blocks -- something coaches are working intensely to improve with the team of football neophytes. The Saints drove upfield, and Hosea crashed through to the end zone to give the electrons on the visitor's side of the scoreboard some work.

"Hosea keeps his feet running. He has a low center of balance," observed Lighthouse Pastor Josh Scribner, himself an accomplished football player.

Thus served notification that LCA would not cower in fear, Cornerstone responded with another touchdown before the half.

This was Lighthouse's third game this CIF season. Surprisingly, coaches abandoned the passing plays that had worked so well for its previous two games.

"We wanted to focus on fundamentals -- blocking and tackling," Coach Zach said. "We were going to run the ball and see if they blocked for those plays. They did pretty good in the first half. Some of the blocks were good. When everybody did their job, we could move the ball."

In the second half, Coach Zach called a couple passing plays, and with that freshman Marcus Scribner caught a ball and made a scintillating 50 yard weaving dash to the end zone for Lighthouse's second touchdown. It hailed of the type of play that brought LCA two CIF runner up titles.

"Altogether there were a lot of good things. We wanted to see the kids block, and they improved in that area," Zach said. "Hosea has been the best blocker at center, so we decided to reward him for his work. The receivers, if they want to catch the ball, they're going to have to block.

"Hosea's a bowling ball. He rolls. He's not easy to tackle," Zach added. "He's still got a lot to learn in terms of running the ball, but he did excellent tonight. He's tough."

Pictured: The pinball himself poses with a player from Cornerstone Christian after the game. Note: In interest of disclosure, Hosea is this reporter's son.