LJ FB: Alum Max Smith '21 drops by Vikingland

 

Max Smith '21 (far left) chats with head coach

Tyler Roach, whose eldest son Marshall stands by

next to the LJHS football field.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Max Smith, the Viking alumnus who authored a snag of a hiked ball in mid-air against Scripps Ranch to enable La Jolla to come back and beat the Falcons in the closing seconds, dropped by Vikingland Fri., Aug. 2, to chat with head coach Tyler Roach and members of the La Jolla High football team.

Smith enters his junior year at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, having spent a year at a prep school right out of high school, then successfully advancing through his freshman and sophomore years at the academy.

"I moved over to rugby," said Smith Friday, sharing with Roach that he broke his wrist scoring a try (equivalent to a touchdown in rugby) in a game in which he scored a total of two tries. He originally committed to play football for Navy.

The former Viking star exhibited a solid 5'9", 193-pound frame in his brief visit to the LJHS campus.

During his years at La Jolla, Smith created a legacy that is the stuff of legends. As a freshman in high school (he said he weighed 165 pounds back then), Max came up to the varsity in Fall 2017 to be the long-snapper.

He made waves even then, because he could tackle and he would physically sacrifice himself, if needed, to make a stop or whatever else required a collision on the football field. Teammates grew to respect him, then revere his physical makeup, while opponents had to bear the brunt of a head-on meeting with the wide-ranging linebacker and running back.

In the aforementioned instance, with La Jolla trailing against Scripps (the alma mater of Roach's wife, Leslie Roach), Smith lined up on the left with a clear view around the box of Falcon linemen. He timed his start at the instant the ball was hiked, and intercepted it in mid-air to take possession for the Vikings.

It was a startling but phenomenal play that turned around the entire result of the game, and Scripps head coach Marlon Gardinera says even now that "we don't pronounce his name around here" in an interview this reporter conducted with Gardinera a few years ago.