By Ed Piper
"We don't say Max Smith's name. It gives me the chills."
Marlon Gardinera, the head football coach at Scripps Ranch, remembers the game against La Jolla in 2018 vividly.
When he relates the story, he holds his left forearm up, pointing to the imaginary goosebumps on his arm.
"That was the victory formation game," he reminds me. The Falcons, a win over the Vikings seemingly assured, went into the "victory formation" in the closing moments--a "V" around the quarterback--that teams often resort to in such situations.
Smith, a sophomore at La Jolla still building his legend, observed how Scripps' offense hiked the ball. He told me later that he kind of timed it.
Lining up on the right side of Scripps' "box" of linemen around their QB--the left side from the Vikings' perspective--Max jumped across the line of scrimmage right after the hike, totally legal.
He caught the ball in the air!
On the next play, La Jolla scored, winning the game. Insane. It was head coach Tyler Roach's second year in the job.
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