Sk8erpat now famous for football too

He could have mangled his fingers, broken his toes, fractured his ribs... any number of ER trauma from high school football.

Pat Cannon -- known on Instagram is Sk8erpat with 19K followers worldwide -- wants to go pro skateboarding, so what was he doing playing football for the Lighthouse Christian Academy?

On Saturday, the senior scored a touchdown, handed off and passed for touchdowns as quarterback to help the Saints win 34-30 against Cal Lutheran Wildomar in LCA's season closer on Culver City High School's field.

He gambled with jeopardizing his true passion for somebody else's.

"I just wanted to help my teammates out. I wanted to help my school," Pat said. "It was worth it. It was one of the best decisions of my life."

The Saints' high hopes for its 2019 season were dashed in the first game of the season.

That's because Levi Photenhauer, a slick runner with unflagging tenacity, went down with a torn ACL. It was as if LCA had lost its queen early in a game of chess.

The Saints still had Seniors Marcus Scribner and Hosea Ashcraft to marshal the defense and ramrod the offense. But their core horsepower was cut by one-third. LCA only won two games all season in CIF's southern section 8-man football.

Out of the crater of the first game, coaches asked soldiers to rise up and (attempt to) fill the gap.

Josie Bowen was a notable revelation. The sophomore was a beast on kickoff returns and tackling. He scored a TD Saturday that was called back because of an illegal block.

Sophomore Steven Lahood, who grew like Gulliver over the summer, rose to the challenge and became an offensive threat and a stolid defensive player. He blocked a key pass in the final moments of the game to assure LCA's victory.

Rob Scribner, an unobtrusive freshman, exploited his unmenacing frame, to surprise with touchdown catches. David Hutchinson, a newbie to football, became a solid lineman and tackler. Brandon Farah learned how to do in real life what previously he had done only on video games, and Luke Mammana performed pinpoint kicks under pressure.

"We didn't have all the pieces on defense, so we had to decide where we were going to bend," said Assistant Coach Josh Scribner, father to Marcus and Rob. "Marcus is our backer or end, but we decided to put him deep so there was never a breakout. Our game plan was give them a 5-yard play, give them a 7-yard play, give them a 3-yard play. But we never give up the 60-yard breakout blow.

"For their touchdowns, they had to drive it all the way down, and time went off the clock, and we scored fast. Bam, bam, bam," Josh said. "We'd get up, and maybe they'd make a mistake, and we'd get the ball back, and that's when the game was played. I think the key to the game was we had a lot of people that we're involved. Everybody made great plays."

In the first five minutes, Lighthouse scored two touchdowns. Rob intercepted a pass, and immediately Marcus caught the pass on LCA's first play to burn defenders and run for a touchdown. Then LCA came in for hard hits on kickoff, provoking a fumble, which Brandon recovered. On the first play, a pass to Hosea brought another TD.

Cal Lutheran ground its way down the field but was foiled on a 4th down. With LCA on the offense, Marcus caught a ball and danced past three defenders and burned a fourth at high speed to bring the score to 20-0.

Cal Lutheran again made a credible drive with some trick handoffs and would not be counted out of the game, scoring a TD and conversion.

Marcus returned the kickoff with a fake and switch for huge yardage before he stepped out of bounds. Pat ran a sweep up the left side of the field before being pushed out.

With only 11 seconds in the the first half, Pat cannoned the ball to Rob, who as the short, baby-faced freshman was left completely unguarded in the end zone. With the subsequent field goal, it was 27-8.

In the start of the second half, Cal Lutheran picked up the ball on an onside kick and drove to a TD.

Lighthouse had to punt but stopped Cal Lutheran on fourth down when Pat made a key tackle.

After combining plays to move upfield, Pat ran the ball into the end zone in the fourth quarter to make it 34-14.

Cal Lutheran is to be credited for making big plays in the fourth quarter and threatening to overtake the Saints. They made some fabulous runs and long passes. If Cal Lutheran would have played offense for the whole game the way they played the fourth quarter, the results might have been different.

The Saints were holding the lead at 34-30 when Cal Lutheran did an onside kick hoping to get possession for a last gasp TD and win. But Steven smartly smothered the ball, assuring LCA's triumph with only 30 second left.

At half, Josie had rallied his teammates to play for Levi and dedicate the game to him.

"He's a senior. He got an ACL torn, so we should dedicate it to our teammate who got hurt," Josie said.

And Pat had played a part. The star of street skating tricks who can pull tre flips and hard flips soaring over concrete, also pulled TD passes and runs soaring over the gridiron.

All ten fingers and ten toes are intact, good for skater glory.

Team photo back row from left Coach Zach Scribner, Coach Justin Kayne, Levi Photenhauer, Pat Cannon, Brandon Farah, Hosea Ashcraft, Marcus Scribner, Lucas Mammani, Coach Josh Scribner, Coach Lucas Moraida.

Front row from left: Steven Lahood, Josie Bowen, Sollas Richardson, Rob Scribner, David Hutchinson.

To read about other LCA games, click links:

• Against Teach Tech.
• Against Downey Calvary Chapel
• Against Beacon Hill Classical Academy.

• Against Milken Community School.
• Against Meadows School.
• Against Hillcrest Christian.
• Against Calvary Chapel La Verne.