LJ FB: No playoff spot

Vikings (from second left) seniors Evan Brown
and Gabe Solis, and sophomore Diego Solis
exhibit their slings from broken collarbones
sustained in the last three weeks of the
LJHS football season. The occasion
was Senior Night.
(Photo by Ed Piper)
 

By Ed Piper

"It seems, we've come to the end of the line..."

The lyric sounds like a sad country song about love gone dry, but this morning (Oct. 27) it applies to the La Jolla High football team, which was excluded from the CIF Division 3 bracket, which appeared on the CIF San Diego Section website prior to 10:30 a.m.

The Vikings suffered injuries and on-the-field woes in the last two weeks of the Eastern League season, absorbing a painful 49-0 loss to league-winning clincher Christian at Granite Hills Oct. 20, then a 44-0 give-no-quarter loss to Mira Mesa on a foggy night at Edwards Stadium Oct. 27.

Christian, whose players inflicted hard hits on Viking players, resulting in triple-fracture collarbone breaks of brothers Diego (second quarter) and Gabe (third quarter) Solis, was awarded the number one seed in the bracket on the strength of its undefeated record in the league.

Quite a photo on Senior Night for the Vikings Oct. 27 was the trio of Evan Brown, who suffered a clavicle (collarbone) fracture two weeks before the Solises, against Lincoln Oct. 5, alongside the brothers. Brown was, by far, the most talkative, being three weeks into his recovery. He carries a sling on his left arm.

Gabe Solis just underwent surgery Thurs., Oct. 25, so he was taking painkillers a day later. His eyes looked at half-mast. He and his younger brother, who was operated on the day prior to that, Wed., Oct. 24, rotated stints in a rolling chair on the La Jolla sideline during the game against Mira Mesa.

Brown and Gabe are both seniors. All three are also members of the Viking basketball team. An additional member of the walking wounded on the sideline was senior quarterback Carsten Fehlan, who broke his thumb in the second quarter of the loss to the Patriots. Freshman Jackson Stratton started at quarterback in place of Fehlan and Diego Solis.