LJ FB: Warhawk be gone

By Ed Piper, Jr.

My chiropractor is the team chiropractor for Madison's football team. I used to dread going in for treatments to hear the latest news on the Warhawk team, known for attracting players of immense talent but sometimes questionable behavior off the field.

Finally, with fall 2016, it's Warhawk be gone. La Jolla, enjoying the fruits of Power Ranking realignment, no longer has to play Rick Jackson's team.

What a relief. (And I don't see my chiropractor that often anymore.)

Although you'd talk to coaches and they would always say what a great challenge they looked forward in playing Madison (which had a state title stripped after their quarterback was declared an ineligibile transfer from Arizona), as a spectator it was always a grind to watch the score mount to 53-0 or so and watch the Vikings deflate.

Now, this City League configuration looks more to La Jolla's--and this writer's--liking. University City should be tough. Patrick Henry had a big win, then lost in week two. Mater Dei, not a league opponent though on Matt Morrison's schedule, is always a football power.

Hoover, sadly, is weak after enjoying some success under previous coaches. Serra, formerly a regular opponent of the Vikings, has been inconsistent over the years.

Which all adds up to a preleague and league schedule that looks handle-able for the red and black.

It's a fact that fans, meaning the La Jolla students, like a winner. Friday's Blastoff game against Hilltop was a thriller, with a lead of 21-7 early in the third quarter after a deficit early in the game of 7-0.

It matters to pundits and highly competitive observers what a team's strength of schedule is. But really, with a new program and new momentum, enthusiasm around the program gets built by wins on the field. And those wins don't really matter who the opponent is.

The more times the cheerleading squad gets to sprint to the goal line after touchdowns and build their formation, the more cheering goes on.

In the 2000's La Jolla would come to Homecoming on its schedule and have to face a powerhouse team, sometimes playing gamely, sometimes not, and the event being ruined by a big loss.

Now, at least the Bird Rock boys will have a chance to not only have a cool Blastoff, which Friday was, but also an equally cool Homecoming come October. And no Madison in sight to ruin the fun.

Hear-hear to "competitive equity".