By Ed Piper
My, how times have changed.
La Jolla's football team reduced the big, bad lions of past glory from Madison to a whimper Fri., Sept. 6, effortlessly working to a 23-3 win behind the multi-talents of a Viking squad with plenty of skills to spare.
Junior quarterback Hudson Smith, playing without two big offensive weapons, Hank Hansen and Carson Diehl, had to step out and lead La Jolla. And that he did, sneaking in for a clinching touchdown from six inches out with 5:43 left in the game for the final margin.
Coach Rick Jackson's Warhawks had been the big, scary wolf from seasons past, thumping the Vikes in a league contest at the tail end of COVID in Fall 2021, 35-14.
In 2015, before Coach Tyler Roach took over at La Jolla, Jackson's wayward boys had throttled the Vikings 48-7 in a gloomy continuation of previous meetings.
Not so Friday night. Roach employed running back Aidan "Carolina" McGill for much of the hard yardage needed through the first quarter and a half, and beyond. Neither team scored until Alex "Figgie" Figueiredo took a Hudson pass seven yards in. His brother Evan kicked the extra point, and La Jolla led, 7-0, with 7:27 left in the first half.
The energy on the Madison side ebbed as the game went on. Evan Figueiredo kicked a 28-yard field goal four minutes later for a 10-0 Viking lead going into halftime.
From then on, Roach used his multiple weapons, including receiver Palmer Barnett, and especially the dynamic receiving pair of sophomores, Andre "Dre" McLees-Walker and Nico Bardaro, to good effect.
Someone said it was quite a "statement" that La Jolla was making. The locals were ranked 10th in CIF in the first two weeks. Maybe a higher ranking is pending.
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