LJ FB: Morse on the run

By Ed Piper


Morse (3-2) is going to throw some horses at La Jolla in the two teams' Eastern League football opener Friday night, Sept. 28, at the Southeast San Diego school:


Senior linebacker Devin Brown, 6'1", 200 pounds, has made 65 tackles in the Tigers' five games.


Shamar Martin, the Tigers' quarterback/running back, is also going to be playing defensive back. Martin, 5'10", 160, is a verbal commit to UCLA. He runs the 100 meters in 10.4 seconds.


"They have a few really impressive athletes," said Vikings head coach Tyler Roach, whose team is 2-3 after a near-miraculous 13-10 win over Scripps Ranch two weeks ago.


Asked if Morse is going to be running the football on offense, Roach said, "Yes, almost exclusively."


La Jolla has not been a boring team, despite the sub-.500 record thus far. The Scripps win, in which linebacker Max Smith jumped across the line at the snap and stole the ball on the hike with the Falcons in the "victory" formation--a play which no one this reporter has heard from has seen before--is exhibit A.


On other occasions, even when quarterbacks Carsten Fehlan (out for Scripps with an ankle injury) and Diego Solis have been consistent, the flow of action has often been heart-palpitating. Solis, for one, seems to have a gene to take chances as he swirls in the backfield after taking a snap and quickly determining his receivers are not open. As he runs with abandon, often to his left as a left-hander, he might still fire the ball downfield to a target. You never know what is going to happen.


The challenge against Morse will be the wall of non-penetration the Vikings' defense, led by linebackers Jack Wiese and Smith, and safety Finn Rice, will have to put in force to be effective.


The Tigers have put up big scores: 39-0 over Mount Miguel and 43-0 over Patrick Henry in weeks one and two, and 49-14 over Chula Vista in week six last week. All three games were at home.
Even in losing to Lincoln and Vista in weeks three and four on the road, the Tigers scored 22 and 20 points, respectively.