By Ed Piper, Jr.
Defensive lineman Joey Liss verbalized La Jolla's dominance and attitude going into the second half Fri., Nov. 11, when he said, "We're not going to take our foot off the pedal."
Liss, the comeback kid playing in his second straight game after treatment for a tumor in his leg, and his mates incrementally built leads over host Del Norte of 14-0 at the end of the first quarter, and 28-0 at halftime in their first-round Division 3 CIF playoff game.
La Jolla won the right to face Bishop's next Fri., Nov. 18, in the second round of the playoffs by shutting out Del Norte, 34-0.
It was the streaking Vikings' fifth straight win, including their final three games in the City League.
The Vikings' (7-4) defensive unit limited the Nighthawks' (4-7) offense to 23 total yards over the first 24 minutes.
Meanwhile, Nick Hammel, normally gaining attention for his work on defense, made three outstanding catches on offense in the opening quarter, totaling 107 yards. In addition, head coach Matt Morrison's offense employed liberal amounts of runs by crafty back Alex Dockery and bruising Daniel McColl.
Quarterback Cole Dimich led La Jolla to its first touchdown on its second possession, with "Dock" running over from seven yards out. Tai Nguyen's kick made the score 7-0.
When the Vikings got the ball back after the defense forced Del Norte's Scott McKirdy to make one of many punts on the night, Yohann Ponsaty plunged over from six yards for the second score. Nguyen's PAT put the visitors in the lead, 14-0.
Senior quarterback Jake Moore was struggling under the pressure applied by the La Jolla defensive unit. The Vikings were also able to limit Nighthawk receiving star D'Angelo Gunter, who head coach Patrick Coleman said has offers from BYU and Hawaii. Gunter showed speed but wasn't allowed a lot of room to operate by the swarming LJHS defense.
A lightning strike by La Jolla came in the last 2:22 of the half when, first, Dockery completed a quick drive from the LJHS 45 by running over from seven yards out. His TD came with 44 seconds left on the scoreboard.
Then, after La Jolla's punt return unit was flagged for penalties twice in a row, giving McKirdy a third punt attempt, the Vikings' Gabe Solis ran the ball all the way back from the LJHS 35 for a 65-yard touchdown. The clock read :04 as Nguyen completed first-half scoring with a PAT, 28-0.
Before the game, Morrison, taking a break from listening to Phil Collins' "In the Air" and Van Halen's "Right Now" on his ear buds to get ready for the game, said his team needed to continue to play "fast and physical"--"the way we've been playing."
His players heeded his wishes. They dominated Del Norte during the first half. Then, in the third quarter, Hammel, on a tear, made his fourth reception on an excellent catch at the left sideline, the visitors' side. It came on 3rd-and-2 and went for 17 yards from Dimich. That gave Hammel 124 yards receiving to that point, though La Jolla wasn't able to score on the drive.
The drive had started on a short field at the Nighthawk 42 after Johnathan O'Neal blocked McKirdy's punt. The special teams unit had been harrying the burly Del Norte punter all night before finally getting to him.
The Vikings were able to score again late in the third quarter on a six-yard connection between Dimich and "Dock" for Alex's third TD of the night. Cole put the ball in the right back corner of the end zone for Dockery to catch. The PAT failed. That made the score 34-0.
La Jolla amassed 250 total yards on offense, passing and receiving, in the first half, to Del Norte's paltry 23 yards.
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