LJ FB: Mission Bay up next in week 5

By Ed Piper

In Mission Bay (4-0), La Jolla meets a team that has won all four of its pre-league games, and the Buccaneers are playing at home against a stumbling 2-2 Viking team Fri., Sept. 15.

Coach Tyler Roach's offense was rolling with returning senior quarterback Jackson Diehl at the wheel--until he got injured, some say with intent, during the first half against El Capitan in week two.

Maybe the bad luck with back-to-back losses is having Military Appreciation Night two times in a row. At El Capitan, the hosts arranged a military flyover of vintage prop planes at seven minutes to the hour, prior to the game. At La Jolla, besides the red-white-and-blue coloring that the students wore, the only nod to the military was asking "those who have served our country" to stand at halftime.

No shame there. The observance was combined with Future Vikings Night (former Athletic Director Paula Conway started that tradition) and Staff Appreciation. (About 20 members of the faculty and staff stood out at midfield to be recognized, while all the names of staff members were read. That was a nice touch.)

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Back to the football, the Bucs feature gigantic senior quarterback Charlie Hutchison, a 6'6" specimen, throwing to receiver David Dunn, who is averaging over 60 yards in receiving per game up to this first Eastern League game between the Vikes and nearby Mission Bay.

"Hutch" also favors Isaah Whitehurst, who is grabbing over 33 yards receiving per contest. Finally, Robbie Page is one step behind, with 27 yards a game in the air.

Meanwhile, on the turf, Roberto Mena is grinding up 66 yards a game on the ground--sounds kind of like the Vikings' Aidan "Carolina" McGill, who is the go-to guy when La Jolla needs yardage.

But wait--the Buccaneers, who have a tradition of running backs, are a triple threat among running backs, with Ricky Esquer, over 57 yards per game, and Caden Taffe, over 51 yards on the ground per contest.

As a result of these many ways to produce yardage, Viking Defensive Coordinator Ryan Price (a former head coach at University City) will have to be preparing his boys for all the options.

Hutchison has a quarterback rating of 102.0 at this point. He has completed 35 of 69 passes for 50.7 percent. Charlie has passed for 11 touchdowns. He has also run for three TD's.

Dunn takes the cake among receivers with five receiving touchdowns.

On defense, Taffe, a junior, is a tough hombre, leading the team with 26 tackles. Orlando Castillo and Jacob Morgan, both seniors, trail at 22 tackles each. All three defenders have high numbers of solo tackles among those total tackles.