LJ FB: Air Viking

By Ed Piper

"Air Norse." "Air Vike."

There must be some nickname the La Jolla football team can adopt to represent the aerial attack the Vikings confront opponents with.

This year, the forward pass is back for yardage, and touchdowns.

But, it's a dangerous way to pick up real estate. In the first two games, Trevor Scully, newly crowned as the Vikings' offensive general, has three interceptions and two interceptions, respectively.

Plus two more in the scrimmage against Mission Bay that directly preceded the opening of the 2017 campaign.

But La Jolla quarterback coach Chris Forcier, a veteran of prep, college, and pro passing battles, remarked after game one, "The numbers look worse than it was." That's someone who knows.

I sit back and realize, connection through the air is an exciting brand of football.

Against Country Day, in La Jolla's first win of the season in week two, the 6-foot senior went 14 for 22, for 266 yards.

That's not a bad day at the office.

Another fact is, passers aren't just born. Many high school teams, lacking an effective passer, merely grind the ball into the ground, with the quarterback serving as a conduit to hand off to a passel of running backs who carry the ball on the ground.

The only time La Jolla has been able to move the ball consistently on passes long and short in my 14 years of covering LJHS sports--and this is not denigrate the other pretenders--was during the two-year Collin Rugg era, in 2013 and 2014.

A problem, though, exemplified by a game the Vikings played at Fallbrook during that period in which both teams scored close to 50 points, is that when you quickly strike through the popular spread offense, you're also returning the ball to your opponents so that they get a crack at scoring, as well.

In this short season, so far, La Jolla was able to burn up lots of time at Country Day while marching on the opening drive to a successful score, relying mostly on rushes but sprinkling in a few Scully spirals. In this model, the offense is no-huddle, but the pace is not frantic, and more time elapses on the clock.

You're playing keep-away from the opponent.

Adding to the excitement the first two games so far this fall is Trevor's sometimes-heart-palpitating scrambles in the backfield. He had 21 yards on the ground against LJCDS, much of it spent in evading capture by defenders, or Head Coach Tyler Roach's calling his number for a quarterback keeper.

Zach Garcia, running left time-and-again, piled up 92 yards on 15 carries in the same game.

It takes two to tango, and Scully's passing targets have included Gabe Solis, with six receptions for 118 yards and a touchdown versus the Torreys; Michael Wells, four catches for 96 yards and two TD's; Johnathan O'Neal, 33 yards on two receptions; and Sola Hope, 19 yards on two catches.