LJ FB 31, UC 55

Incredible skies greeted the Vikings during pregame
warm-ups for their tilt at UCHS. (Photo by Ed Piper)



By Ed Piper

University City's football team, led by Marcel Patterson's 280 rushing yards and four touchdowns, downed La Jolla in the local rivalry, 55-31, to take home the City League title Fri., Nov. 3.

The battle for the championship, with both teams entering 3-0 in league play, came down to the final game of the regular season. La Jolla led early, 10-0, and the entire first half, taking a 17-12 edge into the locker room at halftime.

But after falling behind by nine points early in the fourth quarter, then coming back within three at 27-24, Coach Tyler Roach's team saw the wheels come off as UC tallied five times to put the game away.

The Vikings (now 5-5 overall) hoped to win their first conference championship since the 1990's, but it wasn't to be--even though quarterback Trevor Scully found receiver Michael Wells for a scoring strike, pulling within 41-30 with just over three minutes left to make the finish interesting.

Scully, passing for 3 TD's and rushing for one, surpassed 2,000 yards in the air for the season by going 22 for 46 and 324 yards. That pushed the senior's total through 10 games, with the playoffs next week, to 2,274 yards with 26 passing touchdowns. He also has six rushing TD's for a total of 32.

Senior receiver Miles Matalon, who had been making noise in recent games, enjoyed the breakout game of his career with seven catches for 158 yards and two touchdowns. His TD's came on pass plays covering 70 and 54 yards from Scully.

His second score brought the Vikings to within 27-24 in the fourth quarter. On the spectacular play, the 6'1", 180-pounder struggled into the end zone with multiple defenders hounding him.

Senior co-captains Tucker Jacobs and Johnathan O'Neal led the La Jolla defense by displaying their usual lunch-bucket ethic in registering six tackles apiece, five of those solos for Jacobs from his outside linebacker position, four for O'Neal, the free safety.

Freshman linebacker Max Smith continued his standout play, blocking a punt and taking down five tackles, four of those unassisted.

In the first quarter, the Vikings initiated the scoring with a six-yard quarterback keeper by Scully after a fake handoff to Gabe Solis. Steady Nick Goehler's kick made it 7-0 with 6:38 on the clock.

Goehler, kicking soccer-style, then plowed a 25-yard field goal between the uprights with 1:17 left in the opening quarter for a 10-0 La Jolla lead.

UC's Patterson scored the first of his TD quad on a 75-yard run from scrimmage that electrified the large Centurion crowd, who were introduced to UC's senior players and families in a long procession at halftime. The rushing score came a short time before the first quarter ended.

The hosts took a 12-10 lead midway through the second quarter after junior linebacker E'lonte Rico was ruled to have taken the ball away from the Vikings' O'Neal on a fumble after a pass reception. La Jolla disputed the call, in which O'Neal seemed to go down to the turf with the ball as he was tackled by Rico and another defender. Rico held the ball in the air after ripping it away from O'Neal at some point, and it was ruled a recovered fumble for UC (now 9-1 overall).

Rico then went on a tear during the ensuing offensive series, running six times in seven plays to score on a three-yard run for a 12-10 UC lead.

Then Matalon got the Vikings the lead back with the first of his pair of long touchdown receptions, this one for 54 yards on a connection from Scully. Goehler's PAT kick was good, and the red and black took a 17-12 lead into halftime.

After a seesaw struggle through the third quarter, and the Centurions taking a 19-17 lead they would never give up, the fourth quarter saw a total of seven TD's scored, unfortunately for La Jolla five of those by the hosts to secure the win and the league title.