LJ's Carson Diehl (13) hauls in
a 7-yard pass from QB Emerson
Rota for a 7-0 lead with
7:09 left in the first quarter.
(Photos by Ed Piper)
By Ed Piper
La Jolla head coach Tyler Roach was speaking before the game Friday, Oct. 24, about having to juggle the loss of the Vikings' starting quarterback, Huddy Smith, and figuring it out from there.
"We've had to be pretty limited the last couple of weeks," the ninth-year coach said before facing St. Augustine at Mesa College. "We were proud of (fill-in Emerson Rota), and got to build off that tonight.
"Continue to get a little bit of momentum on offense tonight and hopefully we'll be able to open it up a little more."
Rota, a lefthander, completed 16 of 27 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown in a 36-33 win over San Diego High Oct. 17.
Roach mentioned "next man up", so he wasn't making excuses for the team's performance, merely explaining what they have to capitalize on from here.
Lukas Grismer (7) of La Jolla returns
a kickoff near the end of the first quarter
with the score 14-7, Saints in the lead.
While the Vikings continued to rely on Rota, the junior, who had never appeared in a varsity game before, the Saints featured Pai Polamalu, the son of NFL Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu (the long-haired "mini-Troy" in the Head and Shoulders commercials).
The junior running back brought the Saints back from an opening 7-0 deficit (via Carson Diehl's seven-yard pass from Rota) to score three touchdowns in the first half, carrying the hosts to a 28-14 halftime lead.
After the Vikings' Diehl took another Rota pass for 26 yards and a TD to pull within 28-20, Polamalu rushed for his fourth score of the game to lead 34-20 and the game would be no closer until the 41-35 final score.
Diehl caught 13 passes from Rota for 238 yards and four touchdowns. Pai countered with his TD runs of 13, 80, and one yard, and a 24-yard reception.
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