The Pipeline

Sunday, October 4, 2026

LJ FB: More photos 10/2

Photos by Ed Piper

Corner Jager Kideys (3) picks off a pass

by Scripps QB Nolan Cooper (not in view)

that led to another TD by La Jolla. Kideys

advanced the ball 12 yards, to the 27-yard line.

He is covered by the Falcons' Ian Campbell (2).

Nico Bardaro (with ball) runs

a jet sweep left to start

a quick five-play drive

after Hanlon's interception

and a 14-0 lead.

Running back Kali Deberry leaps across

the goal line (lower right) as QB Brody

Bukich (top left) watches for the 14-0 lead.

Griffin Roach (right, almost 5), youngest of three sons

of LJ head coach Tyler Roach and his wife Leslie

(an alumna of Scripps Ranch), gets sacked

before he can make a pass to one of his brothers

on the sideline in the first half.

Roach makes a point to receiver Emerson

Rota, who later figures into the trickiest play

of the night, a flea-flicker.

LJ FB: Game story 10/2

Viking back Joseph Crudo runs for 12 yards

on 3rd-and-11 to pick up a first down.

Colton Searles (24) of Scripps pursues

him. La Jolla (2-4) scored

on the opening drive to lead

Scripps Ranch, 7-0.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

La Jolla got into a tussle with a persistent Scripps Ranch (0-5 going in), desperate for a win. When Viking quarterback Brody Bukich flung a pass to his right side to converted QB Emerson Rota, the senior looked downfield to a streaking Zakai Jackson and deposited the pass in the freshman's hands for a 43-yard touchdown--the play of the game.

The hosts, playing on Homecoming, led 27-21, after the first play of the fourth quarter.

From there, it was a chess match, with the Falcons rotating three running backs mixed in with passes to receiver Garrett Schultz. A 40-yard strike to Rory Dunn put Scripps up temporarily, 29-27.

Viking running back Kali Deberry, who has pounded inside for a lot of tough yardage through the first five games, rambled again from the La Jolla 43, fumbled near the goal line, then had the recovery ruled a TD, 35-29.

But they needed some breathing room, on the precipice of a league win to redeem themselves from last week's blowout at St. Augustine. There were eight minutes left, a lot of time.

Falcon QB Nolan Cooper under new head coach John Taylor, long-time Defensive Coordinator under the retired Marlon Gardinera, couldn't deliver in a short, aborted drive.

So, with his eye on the clock, LJ head coach Tyler Roach directed a possession using Deberry, Joseph Crudo, and wildcat Nico Bardaro that resulted in Kali's nine-yard TD run leaving only 1:34 on the scoreboard. The Vikings, in their announced 105th year of football, led comfortably, 42-29.

Friday, October 2, 2026

LJ Cheer: Homecoming routine 10/2

Photos by Ed Piper

LJ FB 42, Scripps Ranch 29 - Homecoming - 10/2

Photos by Ed Piper

Freshman star Zakai Jackson (6) takes a reception

from QB Brody Bukich 29 yards on the Vikings'

first play from scrimmage. La Jolla soon

scored on the nine-play drive for a 7-0 lead.

Kali Deberry starts the second half with

a run to show the beast he is.

Fireworks explode over the tennis

courts during one of the highlights

of Homecoming.

Viking tight end Nico Bardaro (15, hand raised)

lines up on the right before a golden twilight

at Edwards Stadium. It was a warm but pleasant

night (80's).

Receiver Jackson Hanlon (8) takes

a pass and advances eight yards.

He is covered by Rory Dunn (4).

Action took place in the first quarter.

Nico Bardaro (behind blocker Blake

Alexander, red uniform in front)

takes the ball in the wildcat

to score La Jolla's first TD of the night.

LJ kicker Ryan Hassankhami (rear, with leg

swinging) kicks the extra point for a 7-0 advantage

with 7:58 left in the opening period.

LJ Athletic Trainer McKenna

Peckinpaugh, with her trademark

lollipop in her mouth, treats

Nico Bardaro (15) for

a hand injury.

More fireworks at halftime.

A Viking pep band member warms up on the

flute before the band plays the National Anthem

prior to the Homecoming game.

Other band members, including one in ghoulish

makeup, gather on the track.

LJ FB: Me as OC

By Ed Piper

You would never want this to be true, but make me Offensive Coordinator for the Vikings for one game, Homecoming, tonight (it's 11:30 a.m., Fri., Oct. 2), and here's what I would do.

Mind you, I'm an amateur. I never played football (our mother prohibited my brother and me from playing), never coached it, never learned it. My only schooling is watching La Jolla, primarily, for the past decade and a half, and observing and learning from Head Coach Tyler Roach as much as I can from a distance--and the occasional interview.

I'd have La Jolla do what the Vikes do best: Start sophomore Ty Tortorice and let him direct the offense, gain some momentum. Roach always--without exception--elects to receive the opening kickoff, whenever that is possible during the pregame coin flip, to gain early momentum and get the ball rolling, literally.

Turn running back Kali Deberry loose, employing him on rushes frequently in the early going. Throw Joseph Crudo, the other back, in there for a good sprinkling of rushes. Both run between the tackles, and Crudo also swings outside for the occasion ground-gainer.

Set senior athlete/playmaker Nico Bardaro up for a jet sweep here and there--he usually swings to the right, starting out on the left.

Up and rolling, with the defense doing a good job of doing the basics, staying with their fundamentals (this is how I played basketball my senior year in high school eons ago), stopping the visiting Falcons from Scripps Ranch.

Make adjustments. Go with what the game gives you on offense and defense. Your good athletes on La Jolla are going to play both ways, so they'll be busy in the heat (already picking up right now in Clairemont: 85.6 degrees at 11:37 a.m.) and doing the jobs.

At an opportune time, insert junior Brody Bukich at quarterback, say, once the second quarter moves midway through the dozen minutes. Give him short routes to throw, looking for freshman Zakai Jackson, Deberry, and Crudo moving about. Let him get comfortable as he steps into the shoes of leadership this night.

Go from there. I don't know of particular tendencies Scripps Ranch has, but Roach does. This is the same Scripps Ranch where Marlon Gardinera carried on such a great rivalry with Roach and the Vikings, especially the Max Smith game in which the linebacker lined up on the line and jumped across the instant the ball was hiked and caught it in mid-air--then QB Jackson Stratton engineered a quick-strike touchdown. La Jolla pulled off an incredible last-minute comeback during a league game in the late 2010's.

Fortunately, Gardinera retired at the end of the 2025 season, so his successor, John Taylor, has to carry the reins. A quick look at MaxPreps shows the Falcons are struggling more than the Vikings, having yet to win a game this season (0-5). This is the time, this is the place tonight at Edwards Stadium for La Jolla to celebrate a good Homecoming.

By the way, Scripps Ranch, showing itself to be pretty weak so far, suffered a blowout Eastern League loss to San Diego last Friday, Sept. 25, 35-6. Their efforts the week before didn't go much better, losing 42-21 to Mira Mesa Sept. 18. Poway is good, and the Falcons lost to the Titans 16-0 on opening night back on Aug. 21.

* * *

Addendum: I didn't know that Viking quarterback Ty Tortorice had gone out of the St. Augustine game in the second quarter under concussion protocol. The sophomore didn't play against Scripps Ranch, and wore sunglasses to cut the glare and give his senses a rest. He said he would be out another week.

West and pre-logo days

By Ed Piper

A seventh-grade boy, obviously into basketball and the NBA, asked me what team I liked. I said the Lakers, kind of. I haven't adjusted to the Luka Doncic era yet.

He asked me who my favorite player was. This type of exchange goes on not infrequently. Middle-schoolers are shorter; my height raises the immediate question of whether I played basketball. I did.

So, I thought for a second--Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain... I said "Jerry West". He, obviously an avid NBA follower, said immediately, "The Logo."

I don't think this way. Jerry West being the figure used for the NBA logo came in much later.

I don't condemn the kid, but generations are on different wavelengths about these things. For him, Jerry West is someone he reads about in books about the history of basketball. For me, I actually turned on KTLA Channel 5, or KTTV Channel 11, and actually saw the guy dribbling down the court. (I didn't see my first NBA game in person until my teen years. My dad wasn't into sports. My mom, either. We lived an hour from L.A. by the time I was 10 years old, so driving there--and I didn't really know they existed and played in an arena somewhat near my house, I was into major league baseball--was out of the question, especially since my dad already commuted one hour each way from Camarillo to El Segundo Monday through Friday.)

I asked him he was into. "The Knicks," he said. "Bandwagon," I said. I wasn't very gentle. "You just like them because they won the NBA title this past season."

"No," protested the boy. "I've been into them since 2014"--which would be the day he was born, which is impossible.

Then class started and I had to get things going. I didn't really give him a chance. Looking back, I realize how much he knew and how much he was into the NBA. The next time I meet him, I should give him more chance to explain.

He's kind of the way I was at that age about major league baseball. (I'm not capitalizing it, because I'm not talking about a product, but the professional game of baseball. Back then, it was called Organized Baseball. I've seen read that that term was rejected because it hearkens back to the days of Kennesaw Mountain Landis, before Blacks were allowed to play in the majors. Plus Black owners in the Negro Leagues were denied a chance to move their franchises into baseball, basically killing their businesses off. Walter O'Malley and his cronies weren't actually for free enterprise; just enterprise they could carry on.

We talked about the incredible giftedness of players nowadays. He asked, "Why were centers so tall back then?" I said I hadn't heard that question before, but that centers were trained to only play center, with their back to the basket. Wilt Chamberlain was nimble in his younger years, but he and Bill Russell and Walt Bellamy and the others were only expected to play under the basket, block shots, rebound, and slam dunk the ball from close in.

I told him, Giannis Antetokounmpo is from another world. He is 6'9", yet can play like a forward or guard did in the old days.

He brought up Victor Wembanyama, and we agreed he was a creature from another world, so agile and nimble, yet 7'4" and able to defend guards as well as big men. Incredible.

He said "Wemby" didn't do as well in the playoffs as he had during the regular season last year. I said he's still young, he needs time to mature even more, and that with all the focus on him he will learn how to deal with the pressure and double-teaming as he develops. He's still a young man at 21, I believe!

I confided to him that he and my basketball buddies back in the day didn't watch the NBA, because we considered it a sloppy version of the game. (We preferred college, with its more-disciplined game. But that was before the shot clock came in.) He didn't really seem to understand that. I don't know if he actually plays basketball. It's different being a fan from being a player who is a fan.