LJ b water polo: Photos 9/23

Photos by Ed Piper

Vikings' Barney Pearce (5) looks inside

from the "1" position, in front of the cage

to the left.

Dexter Black (4) gets a lot of pressure

at the "2" from Dons' Brayden Axline (6).

LJ g golf 236, Cathedral 219 (lower score wins) - Rancho Santa Fe - 9/24

Photos by Ed Piper

Soph Liesl Kijora smiles after

teeing off against Cathedral.

She shot a 40 to lead La Jolla.

Kijora follows through on her shot

off the first tee at Rancho Santa Fe.

She co-captains the Vikings' varsity.

Viking co-captain Bella Itkin (red top, reading

off her phone) leads the Don and Viking golfers

in a tribute and moment of silence for Joe Heinz,

the CIF San Diego commissioner, who

passed away Sept. 22 after a stroke. He was

56.

Natalie Sutton, also a

sophomore, reacts after

her tee shot.

Sutton holds her club way up

at the end of her opening shot.

Golfers in the second group head off toward

the fairway and bunker on the first tee.

Tiffanie Brownson, yet another

sophomore on the Vikings'

varsity, on the first hole.

She shot a 51.

Tiffanie on her tee shot.

Milena Malik, a senior, carded

a 57 on a bright, sunny day

at Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club.

Sophia Wright (far left, in red top) tees off

on the first hole in RSF.

Noah Marquez (left), LJ assistant coach, listens

as the Cathedral Catholic coach, Tyler Anthony,

goes over the ground rules.

Liesl drives with the power of her legs.

LJ b water polo 15, Cathedral Catholic 16 - Western League opener - 9/23

By Ed Piper

A writer for the Union-Tribune predicted a repeat of La Jolla's Open Division championship in its fall season preview.

More recently, a 30-year club coach confided at the AFC Tournament, no one is going to beat Cathedral Catholic for this year's title.

Well, the talk moved to action Wed., Sept. 23, at the Dons' facility, and the hosts took away a 16-15 win in the first of two league matches between the two teams.

Bishop's, the third player in the Western League fray, will have something to say about the whole situation as well.

Burly Cathedral center Grayson Taylor scored three of the Dons' first four goals, and added a fourth in the second quarter, as Cathedral built an early 6-3 lead, then 10-6 to end the first half.

The Vikings' Quinn Daniels, then Dexter Black, scored to keep La Jolla in the game, in front of a full house.

When the Dons built a 13-7 lead midway through the third frame, it looked like they were pulling away with little resistance. Max Bruhn scored a pair of goals in the quarter for Coach Tommy Corcoran's talented squad.

Then, down 15-10 after Jack Davis' goal, La Jolla put on a furious comeback as Henry Glenister, Lev Kevorkian, and Daniels scored in a two-minute flurry to trail 15-14 with 1:48 to play.

Cathedral came out of a timeout at that point and Taylor scored his seventh goal from in close to seal the game, as a meaningless goal by Kevorkian with 17 seconds fell short.

LJ flag FB vs. PLHS - 9/22

Photos by Ed Piper

Eib Brennan leaps to pick

off an interception on a pass by

Pointer QB Emma Rosenberg

in the first quarter.

Under pressure from Point Loma's Sophia Vanin

Valli (10), QB Paige Dykhuis completes a pass

to Khloe Spear (not in view) for an 11-yard gain.

Viking captains Paige Dykhuis (12) and Eva

Solsona (3) walk toward the center of the field

for the pregame coin toss.

Sophomore Ava Gorman (16) takes a pass and twirls

for yardage in the second quarter.

On 4th-and-12, Dykhuis runs a quarterback-keeper

late in the first half. At near left is receiver

Eva Solsona (3). Paige did not make it

to a first down, and La Jolla turned the ball

over on downs.

Receiver Violet Vitale (19) runs for yardage

to the left.

LJ b water polo: A good mix going into league

By Ed Piper

Viking coach Tom Atwell has been going with a starting lineup of field players Dexter Black, Quinn Daniels, Lev Kevorkian, and Henry Glenister, all All-CIF performers from last year's Open Division champions, plus Jude Laifa and Barney Pearce (the latter a part of the rotation in 2025).

These, of course, are all backed by goalkeeper Addie Calhoun.

The mix of the six has played well through the pre-league schedule, having no problems in the AFC Tournament at Coggan and Coronado over the weekend Sept. 18-19.

Laifa has been aggressive, and Pearce fits right into the role he played last year among Atwell's top handful of players.

The big stuff happens this week, with the Vikings traveling to Cathedral Catholic Wed., Sept. 23, to play the Dons, favored to win the Western League in some quarters.

One coach at the AFC Tourney Saturday told me, "Cathedral is going to take the Open Division, no doubt about it." He was a long-time coach, including 30 years coaching in club. He talked about Black being "the only D1 player in the pool" Saturday during La Jolla's game.

La Jolla, listed on MaxPreps as holding a 17-2 record thus far, though it doesn't include all games in tournaments, has been playing excellent ball, with aggressive, denying defense.

LJ b beach VB: New pairs

By Ed Piper

On Thursday, Sept. 17, the Viking boys switched it up and played the host Torreys in all-new pairs.

I asked Myles Plaskonos, the assistant coach, why, and he said, "They (the players) wanted to play with new people."

So, in a radical experiment, early to midway through the short season, head coach Jared Voeller gave the go-ahead.

How that came out, I will have to wait to get results on Thursday and Friday, the latter date when the red-and-black played at Scripps Ranch.

The Viking roster is very new. Only a few of the team members are varsity returners. That is a rare thing in volleyball, where in beach volleyball at La Jolla freshmen become sophomores become juniors become seniors. The school has a strong indoor court and beach volleyball tradition, under Coach Dave Jones, more recently for the boys, and Coach Kelly Drobeck for the girls.

LJ FB: Try to stop Polamalu Fri., 9/25

Viking team captains, including senior Nico

Bardaro (15), take part in the pregame coin flip

with LJCD Fri., Sept. 11.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

With their new outlook after a big 26-0 win over La Jolla Country Day Sept. 11, the Vikings (1-3) will try to meet a new challenge in the gigantic venue that St. Augustine plays in, Mesa College, this coming Friday, Sept. 25.

The defense will try to stop running back Paisios "Pai" Polamalu, the son of NFL Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu--he of the Head and Shoulders commercials on TV--as well as deal with the younger Polamalu on offense, since he plays safety.

In last year's outing, La Jolla watching Pai run over, under, around, and through defenders as he piled up tons of yardage and led St. Augustine to an Eastern League win at the same venue.

He is not a big individual, but he made do with his physique in his two-way role last year.

Meanwhile, the Vikings have plenty to crow about after their dominating victory over the Torreys, who lost quarterback Will Bertrand to a fractured hip. Marvin Jones III, a receiver who had to fill Bertrand's spot early in the first half, also suffered a serious leg injury in the first half, reportedly a torn ACL.

LJHS freshman Zakai Jackson had a breakout game on 9/11, catching six passes for 57 yards and a touchdown. The 5'9" ninth-grader, who displayed a lot of savvy in summer 7-v-7 play against other schools and usually played with the starting unit, now has a total of 206 yards receiving through La Jolla's first four games.

Zakai has one other TD to his credit.

The freshman's score against Country Day came in the second half, which helped put the final nails in the coffin as LJCD fell behind, unable to recover with the Vikings' momentum and fielding a third-string QB who was not expecting to play.

Brody Bukich, La Jolla's junior quarterback, had a creditable game, starting and playing most snaps as he engineered Head Coach Tyler Roach's offense on drives to score.

Bukich, having his most success in any of the first four games, completed 10 of 18 passes for 63 yards. He had the one TD completion to Zakai, and threw no interceptions. He's working on being consistent in the short-to-midrange game, looking for Joseph Crudo, Zakai, Kali Deberry and others, some coming out of the backfield.

*  *  *

Meanwhile, Deberry continues to take a starring role in the ground game, rushing for 155 yards on 18 carries on Sept. 11. He scored two TD's, and his longest carry was 35 yards.

The junior, who attended Muirlands and came up through the Roach system, also caught two receptions for 18 yards.

Crudo, his hard-charging counterpart on the ground, took what is a light load for himself, though he plays both ways--offense and defense--with five carries for 33 yards. Joseph, a senior captain, also grabbed a pass for four yards.

Consistent and improving, a popular choice among his teammates who call out "Em, Em" on his plays, senior Emerson Rota, a converted lefthanded quarterback, caught just two passes for nine years. On the season, through just four games with many more to play, the blonde ranks third on the squad in passing yardage with 159 yards on 13 receptions.

*  *  *

Pai Polamalu has gained 516 yards on 84 carries for the Saints (also 1-3 like the Vikings), and 208 yards on nine receptions.

He has recorded 30 tackles at his defensive back position.