By Ed Piper
(continued from previous blog entry)
On the next play from scrimmage after La Jolla's score, Gabe Solis made what appeared to be a spectacular leaping interception of UC quarterback Gunnar Gray's pass in the middle of the field. The athletic Solis went up with other players, and seemed to be behind them while picking off the pass. He went to the third floor, the others were still down on the second.
But the officials ruled an incomplete pass, on the grounds that the ball had come loose.
Gabe then returned a punt by the Centurions' Blaise Adona after three-and-out, so the Viking offense was quickly back in business.
Taking over on the UC 37--extremely favorable field position--quarterback Diego Solis handed off to mini-back Greg Nelson for a three-yard gain. He completed a pass to Finn Rice. Max Smith bulldozed to the eight. Diego kept the ball to carry it over the remaining yards, and Nick Goehler's second PAT kick in three minutes and 15 seconds put the Homecoming hosts in the lead, 14-0.
The festive crowd was slowly filling in, arriving fashionably late for the big occasion. University City's football team, though featuring some athletic players, had hardly made a noise. The Centurions didn't wake from their slumber much the whole night, as it turned out.
UC coach Ryan Price had been concerned about this. Though sending out all-everything receiver Casey Granfors, who stands much taller than the Vikings' Gabe Solis at 6'4", and listed at 205 pounds, the school up Genesee Ave. has shown two sides: the good and the bad. Fortunately for the red-and-black Homecoming faithful, this was more of the bad.
"To rebound from two losses." That was part of Price's summary of his goals for his team, speaking only 15 minutes before the opening kick (which took place under perfectly dry skies).
Granfors showed his range and mobility, taking one pass in the first half on the left, running laterally across the field in rapid succession.
(He's quite a sight to see on the Centurions' basketball team. He can jump, but evidently he hasn't played that much organized basketball, so his play is a little free-form).
Gray, a third-year starter at QB, allowing Granfors, formerly the quarterback out of necessity, to move to his natural position at receiver, was struggling. That was confirmed by UC's inability to score the whole night.
Diego Solis, as was stated previously, was energized in a positive way by the Homecoming hoopla. Some players play well with the energy, others become too distracted and can't harness the excitement. Well, Diego did, released to play on both defense and offense. He sneaked in and yanked the football right out of UC running back E'lonie Rico's hands, popping it loose, where Viking Jack Wiese smothered it. (Rico was to fumble again later in the half, but luckily for him, the ball squibbed out of bounds.)
Price had said before the game that he wanted to see Granfors and Rico step up. The visitors' offense wasn't able to respond to that challenge.
La Jolla failed to score on the ensuing possession. But unlike his brother Gabe, who had an interception taken away (Gabe did get one later on), Diego cleanly gathered one in on a Gray misfire at the three-yard line with 11:04 on the clock in the (still dry) second quarter.
Again, the hosts couldn't capitalize.
Goehler punched a field goal in from 36 yards out with 2:54 left in the half. That gave his team a 17-0 lead, what turned out to be the final score for the evening.
Then the lightning started, the rain began, and a dry parade of class floats on the stadium track at halftime evolved into a hurried announcement of Gabe and field hockey co-captain Reagan Jetter as King and Queen of the Homecoming court, in the rain, during second-half warm-ups for Gabe's team out on the field. (UC didn't come back out before the second half was declared delayed.)
Before those events, however, Diego Solis ran a keeper 21 yards to the right on a first-and-10 at the UC 36 on the Vikings' second-to-last possession of the second quarter. It was vintage Diego. A flag against the Centurions for 15 yards advanced the ball 36 yards total. After La Jolla called time to regroup at 6:44 left, Goehler was called upon for his first field goal attempt. It missed wide left.
"It's just that I hook it more to the left sometimes when I kick," demonstrated Goehler on the sidelines shortly after his successful attempt minutes later. He showed how he gets his body turned a little too much toward that side. He rarely lacks for distance--he booms the vast majority of his kicks with his strong soccer-bred right leg.
Eardley must have been pleased to see the increased discipline in the passing game. Diego ended up 9 for 17 for 118 yards, with a sole interception. He still was able to scramble for 68 more yards on 10 carries, his long a 40-yarder.
Another good sign Friday night was Carsten Fehlan's return after an ankle injury a month ago. He quarterbacked one series in the first half, and another drive in the second half after play was delayed an hour following halftime due to the lightning strikes.
No comments:
Post a Comment