Where's Waldo? E. Valley High can't find LCA player on field

He looks a little bit like lanky Waldo -- and East Valley High School players had a tough time finding him on the field.

Levi Photenhauer turned on his magic last night running the ball with speed, cuts, spins and redirections weaving through players scattered on the grass. At any given moment, he was somewhere else other than where you expected, evading tackles and making touchdowns and conversions.

The junior led Lighthouse Christian Academy to a 20-6 finish of an 8-man football game, but it wasn't immediately clear if the final whistle -- blown at half time because lightning prompted East Valley to end the game out of an excess of concern for student safety -- would represent a win under CIF rules.

Where's Waldo? The Falcons had a hard time tackling him.

On hand for the game on the North Hollywood campus, LCA's English teacher remarked how much Levi's runs resembled his essays -- digressing wildly all over the place.

Except this time, he got an A+.

If under CIF rules the game will get counted as a win, the Saints will have a 5-2 record and still have a good chance at getting into playoffs.

However, coaches weren't happy.

The Saints' defense was again showing fundamental football, particularly wrapping up on tackles.

"If we don't tackle, then they're gonna score. There was a lot of mistakes on defense," Head Coach Zach Scribner said. "We have a lot of work to do in practices."

Assistant Coach Justin Kayne agreed. "That looked sloppy. We started picking up towards the end, but we couldn't tackle. And if we can't tackle, we can't play football. If we can't get the fundamentals down, then we're not going to be able to make a run in the playoffs."

East Valley was probably not the strongest team that the Saints have faced this year. The Santa Monica Christian high school is composed of only 50 students, limiting the talent pool, but it has a history of good football with two CIF Southern Section runner ups. Its founder, Pastor Rob Scribner, played in the NFL. Coaches Zach and Justin played for Santa Monica College.

Senior Justin Berry made the first touchdown to open scoring for the Saints, catching a ball deep and running into the end zone. The other touchdown just before half was to sophomore Mosie Bowen, born in Africa.

Pictured: Levi Photenhauer, #11, left, with the rest of the team after the half time whistle ended the game for an excess of concern over lightning. After the players went to In-N-Out, the lightning turned into a rare L.A. downpour.

Here's Lighthouse's season-ending victory over Brethren Christian of Huntington Beach. Here's LCA's playoff hopes-dashing game against Hillcrest. Read about how this Frankenstein team beat E. Valley High in the second half. Read about LCA's loss to Calvary Baptist La Verne. Here's an article about how sidelined team captain willed the Saints to victory over Cal Lutheran HS of Wildomar. This is the article of how LCA powerhouse Marcus Scribner was injured and how the Saints beat Teach Academy anyhow. This article talks about how Coach Zach Scribner lost his house but won two games. Read about how one player learned to have a good attitude as LCA overcame Discovery Prep. Lighthouse Christian Academy opened with a loss here.