LJ FB: Driving a car

"Baby, you can drive my car
Yes, I'm gonna be a star
Baby, you can drive my car
And Baby, I love you
Beep-beep, beep-beep, yeah"
                    Beatles

By Ed Piper

When a teenager--at least, back in the day--teens don't hurry to get their licenses right after their 16th birthdays the way we used to--gets a driver's license, she or he may have enough basic knowledge of driving that particular Mom's or Dad's vehicle to pass the test with the examiner sitting there on the front seat next to them.

But that doesn't mean the teen has control, or has the knowledge or wisdom--certainly not the driving experience--to know how to respond in different situations.

This isn't a piece to knock teens. Teens are great. They have energy, excitement. You can talk to a lot of them, hear their unique take on the world. It's something I've always liked, that drew me into teaching high school.

Well, this is my analogy for a passer like the Vikings' Trevor Scully, a talented quarterback.

Back at the start of the season, after the 17-year-old, back from Mission Bay High after a one-year transfer there, lit up Hilltop with many effective aerials to his receivers, including Gabe Solis, Michael Wells, and others, I commented that this made the game, though a loss, much more exciting.

As a Viking partisan, you who are reading this know that La Jolla High hasn't had that many effective passers in the past 14 years.

So, with Trevor piling up over 2,000 yards in the air in the just-completed season, it is fitting to appreciate and assess how he did it. It has been his senior season, his final year, and this was his sole season as LJHS quarterback and also his swan song to us.

My analogy to the driver: Trevor can light it up aeronautically, but that also comes with the risk he'll occasionally complete the pass he didn't want to complete: to the opposing defensive back.

His dad, a devoted sideline denizen during games, pointed out a game or two back that the senior went quite a length of times without an interception. That's to his credit.

With hard work, applying himself, and gaining advice and support from Chris Forcier, his quarterback coach this year, Scully improved through the season and cut down his interceptions.

I think a defining moment--a big-eyed time in the spotlight--came for Trevor when the KUSI Pigskin Report cameraman turned on his bright light and stuck the video camera in Trevor's face and made him tell how the Vikings had just vanquished Mar Vista in their first-round playoff game.

Trevor, under control and responding well, handled the interview with aplomb with all his teammates crammed right behind him and audibly breathing hard from the just-completed 28-0 smashing of Mar Vista Nov. 10, with baited breath waiting for their moment at the conclusion of their quarterback's response to scream out their celebratory exclamations.

Trevor has grown as a player and as a person over the course of this season, I believe, and the credit goes to his head coach, Tyler Roach, whom he knew from a prior football program at LJHS, as well as Roach's staff of dedicated coaches.

Good job, Scully. Take the life lessons you have learned this, your senior year, in the context of the Viking football team and with fellow young men, and carry them into the future, whatever it holds for you.