LJ FB: Redux

By Ed Piper

The euphoria of Thursday's freshman football scrimmage at home evolved into the "reality" of the junior varsity team's need to "work a few things out" later in the afternoon, to the thud of Saturday's varsity workout in which visiting Imperial visibly had the upper hand.

Freshman quarterback Jackson Stratton found receiver Max Raulston three times for touchdowns in the Aug. 9 scrimmage against Hilltop and El Capitan. "Is football fun?" freshman coach Craig Gagliardi yelled to his team after the 4 p.m. practice game. "Yeah!" his team responded.

Head Coach Tyler Roach and his staff were all there, to unofficially officiate and to keep the scrimmage going. There were grins all around. It was a promising start.

Granted, as far as Carlos Ramirez and his Viking JV teammates, they had to face a juggernaut in big Christian High, in addition to the other two high schools in their 5:30 p.m. effort.

Same with Roach's varsity on Saturday in the "Kickoff Classic" at hot Mira Mesa High School: The Imperial Tigers, their opponent, and other valley teams take their football religiously, and Imperial came ready to play. La Jolla didn't.

As they lingered behind the "Kona Ices" truck dispensing snow cones at halftime, the Tigers were relaxed and smiling after piling up a 23-7 lead against the Vikings, who Roach is hoping got all the willies out with this preseason scrimmage.

Passes weren't directed, passes weren't caught, blocking assignments were missed, and a general air of confusion was punctuated by comments like "I don't know why he threw that" on the La Jolla sideline.

But Roach and his assistants are teachers, and they know they are developing young players, many of whom don't have a lot of in-game experience.

The artificial surface was hotter than the 91-degree reading on campus at 2 p.m., late in the practice game, which, after all, is meaningless and doesn't go down on the Vikings' record.

They now know what to work on specifically in practice from Monday through Thursday this week to get ready for the long bus ride to El Centro Fri., Aug. 17, when temperatures promise to still hover around 90 degrees for the 7 p.m. kickoff at Central Union High.

The Spartans promise to be loaded, with a full marching band that on a previous La Jolla visit several years ago put on quite a halftime show. The Vikings better be ready.