By Ed Piper
After some one-on-one tussles between linemen--the blocker (offensive lineman) trying to keep the attacking defender (defensive lineman) from reaching and touching the buoy--to give the big boys the spotlight for a moment, La Jolla's passing offense kicked into gear at about 5:53 p.m. for a one-hour 7-on-7 tussle Thurs., May 30, in the annual Spring Game before a smattering of parents and onlookers.
Quarterback heir-apparent Hudson "Huddy" Smith was one star of the show, before PPR's camera, because he served as QB for both the Black and White teams. Huddy is a rising junior. He started slowly, then put together some rapid-fire series with both sets of receivers.
Another star, snagging some dramatic leaping or diving catches, was rising sophomore Andre "Dre" McLees-Walker. He saw some playing time last fall as a freshman. It looks like he will get a lot more as a sophomore, in view of his performance Thursday.
The Black team scored first, concluding their march from midfield in Edwards Stadium at 6:06 by this reporter's watch. Nico Bardaro, another rising sophomore, had a nice catch just before the TD. His dad enjoyed that, taking photos from the sideline.
The exciting thing looking forward to the fall season is the sheer number of potential receivers QB Huddy will get to choose among. Head coach Tyler Roach is building quite a stable: returners/rising seniors Kai Fukuda and multi-purpose back Hank Hansen; rising juniors Carson Diehl and Renner Smith; as well as McLees-Walker.
White scored on their first possession, a completion over the middle to Renner. This followed completions to Fukuda, Renner, Fukuda again, before an incomplete and sack. 7-7.
On Black's only other possession of the first half, Huddy fired to McLees-Walker, suffered a sack (too much time), a second complete to Dre. Dre made a diving catch on a long bomb to the left side of the end zone for a Black 14-7 lead.
Unfortunately for the White team, Black got the ball to start the second half. Huddy scored twice and the score jumped to a 28-14 lead for the Black team.
On Black's first TD of the second half, Diehl fetched a scoring pass. That made a 21-7 advantage, before White scored on Fukuda-Fukuda-Fukuda for the TD.
Aiden "Carolina" McGill took a Smith pass for a score for Black, trailing 35-21 midway through the second half. Then Hank Hansen came on late to grab a TD for Black, still down 35-28. Then a bomb to Hansen got the Black team to 35.
The final: White won, 42-35.
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