LJ FH: Hat tricks



Viking stars Nora Joyce (12) and
Kate Hartford (14)
(Photo by Rebecca Hartford)

La Jolla's Nora Joyce and Kate Hartford recently enjoyed stellar days offensively on the field hockey pitch.

Joyce, one of Coach Amanda Warford's two seniors on the squad, scored three goals against El Capitan in a 5-0 whitewashing of the Lady Vaqueros.

In similar fashion, Hartford, a sophomore, recorded a hat trick against Mission Bay in an 8-0 Viking shellacking of the Lady Bucs.

As in any sport, scoring a hat trick--three goals--in one game is a notable achievement.

Homecoming 2017: More photos - Band, Cheer, Football team

By Ed Piper

LJ FH: At Serra

By Ed Piper

Coach Amanda Warford's field hockey team, ranked 12th in Division 1, faces number-one power Serra in a 3:30 p.m. Western League match on the Tierrasanta campus Mon., Oct. 30.

There is no Halloween atmosphere for this match, because La Jolla, playing well under their first-year coach, already has a win in a tough conference, defeating Patrick Henry, 3-1.

Each conference opponent only plays one another once, so the league slate is short and sweet. Serra, not surprisingly, has not lost or tied a match this season, coming in 19-0-0, 1-0 in league.

The Vikings, 1-1 in league, are 10-5 overall. Besides Serra and La Jolla in the powerful Western League, Bishop's (0-2, 10-7-1) is ranked 14th in the present CIF Power Rankings, Patrick Henry (0-2-0, 14-5-2) eighth, and Scripps Ranch (2-1-0, 12-5-0) second only to the Q's.

LJ b water polo: Atwell outlook

By Ed Piper

"Cole always comes up big in the big games," says Coach Tom Atwell of La Jolla's goalie, junior Cole Raulston, looking ahead to the Vikings' opening playoff game Sat., Nov. 4.

"We didn't play well against Cathedral" Oct. 26 in a 7-3 loss in the two teams' final regular-season game, said the veteran coach. "(But) we like the seed of the underdog (sixth seed in the Open Division bracket, to the Dons' number-three seed). We match up well versus Cathedral."

Atwell also says the team is looking to the other Cole, sophomore Cole Atwell, his son. "He's been our leading scorer all season."

"He can turn up the volume in our big games. He's the one we look to in key situations."

LJ b water polo: Sixth seed

By Ed Piper

Taking the sixth seed, La Jolla's boys water polo team will enter the CIF Open Division playoffs Sat., Nov. 4, in a 4 p.m. game against third-seed Cathedral Catholic at Coggan Pool on the LJHS campus.

The Vikings, led by seniors Maverick Becker and Tyler Brown, hold an 11-11 overall record. The Dons are 14-12.

The Open Division bracket is not unkind to Coach Tom Atwell's team. Though the Vikes lost both their league matches to Cathedral, including a 7-3 downing Oct. 26 in the Carmel Valley, their first-round match could have come against Bishop's, ranked second, or another stronger team.

La Jolla also features junior Cole Raulston in goal, and sophomore Cole Atwell and juniors Gabe Sepulveda-Sanders and Pablo Rayon on the perimeter.

The Vikings, as a result of Thursday's loss in their last regular-season match, finished the league schedule at 4-4.

Homecoming photos

By Ed Piper

LJ b water polo 3, Cathedral Catholic 7

The Vikings (white caps) play defense
against the Dons in the first quarter.
(Photos by Ed Piper)
 

By Ed Piper

La Jolla gave up only one goal to Cathedral Catholic in the second half, but it was too little, too late as the Vikings failed to spoil the Dons' Senior Game, dropping a 7-3 decision at Cathedral to end regular season boys water polo play Fri., Oct. 27.

Coach Tom Atwell's team, traveling east on Highway 56 on a hot day at the tail end of the week's Santa Ana-condition heat wave, wanted to amend for its earlier narrow 9-8 loss at home Oct. 3 to the Dons.

The second half showing turned out to be the high point, as the Vikings narrowed a five-goal deficit with 4:29 left in the second quarter to the final four-goal gap.

Earlier, things all went Cathedral's way, jumping out to a 4-0 first quarter lead before La Jolla could score its first goal beginning the second quarter.

Don leads then encompassed 5-1, then 6-1 with over four minutes remaining in the first half, before the Vikings could score a second goal late in the second period.

La Jolla begins CIF Open Division playoff competition Sat., Nov. 4, at Coggan Pool on the LJHS campus.

Vikes in the official
scorebook.

LJ FB 44, Kearny 18 - Homecoming and Senior Night

Abdul Sinjab (right) is congratulated
by fellow senior Kenny Hayden (12)
after batting down a Kearny pass
on a two-point conversion attempt
to end the first half.
(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

La Jolla supplied the offensive fireworks for Homecoming with a 34-point blitz in the first half, as the Vikings vanquished Kearny 44-18 on what was also Senior Night.

The dominant victory was La Jolla's fourth straight win, pushing its record over .500 to 5-4, with next week's tilt at University City (like La Jolla, also 3-0 in league) deciding the City League title.

Coach Tyler Roach's offense scored in the air and on the ground while building the 34-0 lead up to a minute and a half left in the half. The usual Viking culprits were to blame.

Senior quarterback Trevor Scully amassed 250 yards in the two quarters on 10 of 16 passing. He victimized a bewildered Komet defense, whose team came into the contest with a 7-1 record as a Division 4 team. La Jolla plays in Division 3.

Fellow senior Johnathan O'Neal grabbed one touchdown and had 110 yards receiving during the barrage, while junior Gabe Solis, Scully's prime target this season, took home two TD's on 97 yards receiving.

Junior Michael Wells had the other first-half score in the air.

Then, rushing, Scully scampered for 62 yards and scored on a keeper in the first quarter, after one of Solis' TD's.

After the Vikings' 14-0 lead to end the first quarter before the large Homecoming/Senior Night crowd, they came right back to score early in the second period on Scully's 52-yard strike to Wells. Nick Goehler converted the first two kicks, but a two-point try behind Kenny Hayden following the Wells TD failed.

Solis' 27-yard pass reception opened scoring for La Jolla in the initial period. Scully's keeper came from three yards out.

Gabe's second TD came with 8:31 left in the second quarter, a catch-and-run in which Scully's toss to him went 15 yards, followed by Solis' elusive run through the Kearny defense down the left sideline to complete the 47-yard play.

By then, the score was 27-0, and Kearny's 7-1 record coming in had been shown to be a bit of a straw man.

After Wells stood wide open in the end zone as he waited for Scully's 28-yard pass to land in his hands, for a 34-0 lead, the Komets finally broke into the scoring column on a 40-yard carry by 1,250-yard running back Brenton Bell, a 5'8" senior captain.

The Viking defense otherwise stymied Bell, who frequently got the call in the first half.

Viking senior back Zach Garcia added 31 yards rushing in the first two periods.

Kearny tried a two-point conversion on a pass by junior quarterback Kenyon Williams to tack onto its first touchdown. Said Viking defensive back Abdul Sinjab, who stopped the pass, "He (Komet slotback Devon Jones) ran a slant route left. I knocked it down."