It's Africa time

Nine years ago, Josie Bowen was the awkward, shy adopted missionaries' kid from West Africa who didn't fit in the small private school in Santa Monica.

Today, the sophomore is ready to take over America.

Milken Community School was probably glad they racked up 47 points in the first half against Lighthouse Christian Academy to assure their final victory.

Because a sleeping giant was waking.

In the second half, Josie beasted out. On kickoff return, he ran the full 80-yard field, smashing through Wildcats, to score a touchdown. There were no cuts, no jukes, just Cruise missile launched straight up the field.

This was no fluke. The volcano had been rumbling for three games. On Lighthouse's fourth game Thursday night, Josie Bowen was in full eruption.

Gentle Jekyll transformed into hideous Hyde, and CIF's southern section 8-man football won't ever be the same again.

Josie made seven tackles, three kickoff returns and one run. He appeared to harness the kinetic energy from hits received to increase his speed and power. Or maybe the Vibranium kicked in.

Fledgling Lighthouse suffered a serious casualty in its first game when point man, Levi Photenhauer tore his ACL. Fellow senior Marcus Scribner would be hard-pressed to drive the team forward single-handedly and a dour season was forecast.

But other players stepped up. Sophomore Steven Lahood and senior Hosea Ashcraft delivered on offense, and skater Pat Cannon showed a previously unseen maturity as QB. But the biggest revelation was the kid weened on soccer in Africa.

"I was kind of lost last year. I was crying, like, 'I don't wanna be on this team,'" Josie says. "My team did amazing blocks, and I just ran through the hole. I feel amazing. I just feel like I ran 100 laps and I feel nothing. I just ran through the herd."

In the first quarter, Lighthouse looked sorely mismatched. The Saints had a hard time getting a 1st down, never mind a touch down. Before the second quarter, the onslaught was 0-35.

In the second quarter, Lighthouse managed to string together a succession of passes and runs to score twice making it 14-47. The Saints improved defense and won some changes of possession.

Marcus Scribner caught a long pass to score again, and David Hutchinson, new to football, stripped the ball from a Wildcat, but the half time whistle preventrf the Saints from capitalizing.

Josie was showing signs of breaking out. On a kickoff return in the second quarter, he broke through and was running for the TD, but his helmet popped off from the wrangling, and he was called back.

Then it happened. In the fourth quarter, Josie stopped being stoppable. His dad is named Ralph. So Josie laid claim to Ralph Jr. -- as in Wreck-It Ralph -- by the way he wrecked havoc and hurt on opponents.

In game where LCA (student population: 45) played against mighty Miliken (student population: 750), coaches couldn't be dissatisfied with the final 35-73. For a startup facing off with a multinational, Lighthouse could licks its lips.

"We won this game," said offensive coordinator Justin Kayne. "That was 100% heart. We outscored them in the second half. You came out and hit hard. That was fun to watch."

"They were saying, 'That was an H--- of a football team right there," said assistant coach Josh Scribner. "If we would have had one more quarter..."

Here are previous articles:

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