Fall 2017 Preview: Lighthouse Christian Football

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By Matt Turer — mturer@ky3.com
@MattTurer

Year in and year out, there’s only a single goal on the field for Lighthouse Christian: Compete for a national homeschool championship.

So when you see names like East Newton, Springfield Central, Jasper, Forsyth, Tipton and Summit Christian on the schedule of a home school program, and when you see the Chargers competing against programs like Carthage and Mountain Grove in summer camps, it’s with that goal in mind.

“When we play the MSHSAA schools during the season, that’s only to get us ready to go down to Florida for our national championship,” head coach Rian Bess said. “We’re always trying to be ranked in the Top 4 [in the country] because when you get down there (to Florida), only the Top 4 play for the championship. The rest of the guys are just playing bowl games.”

Last year, Lighthouse fell 48-38 in the National Homeschool Football Association semifinals to eventual champion Central Virginia.

“We got fourth last year, and that ain’t happening again. We had tons of turnovers last year and it kind of killed us.”

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The Chargers got there thanks to an electric spread offense led by Bryant Taylor, who’s now playing football at Evangel.

“We lost some key players last year, but we had some guys really step up and be ready to be starters this year, so we’re excited about that,” Bess said.

Junior Braeden Mathews (5’9”, 160 lbs.) will replace Taylor at quarterback. Mathews played wide receiver and outside linebacker last fall.

“He’s done a lot of stuff in the offseason to make himself a better football player,” Bess said. “He’s very athletic. He’s reading [defenses] pretty good. But he’s athletic enough to where if he needs to tuck it and go he’s gone.”

Mathews leads what is again expected to be a good offense. Lighthouse averaged 33.3 points per game in 2016.

“I think we’ll score a bunch of points this year, and if this defense catches on, we’ll have a really good year,” Bess said.

Bess also keyed on wide receivers Caleb Miranda (Sr.—5’11”, 150 lbs.), Jonah Winston (Soph.—6’1”, 150 lbs.), Trey Bess (Jr.—5’9”, 155 lbs.) and Isaac Meyer (Fr.) as players to watch, along with running back Gavin Bess, who will also play some wideout.

“[Gavin] is quick and just kind of a bulldozer,” Bess said. “He’s not worried about getting hit at all.”

Bess also said Lighthouse will be running a new defense this fall, but didn’t give specifications on the changes.

“It’ll be fun to watch,” he said in mid-July at the Evangel team camp. “We’ve just got a lot we need to work on as far as making sure people understand their gaps.”

Lighthouse will field a young roster this year, but Bess seems to have high expectations for this season along with the future.

“You worry about being a little young, but here we go. We know in two or three years it should be awesome.”