LJ b BB: Injury watch

Diego Solis shows his athleticism as the Vikings'
quarterback carrying the ball versus Lincoln Oct. 5.
(Photo by Joseph Smith)
 

By Ed Piper

"I'm coming back in two weeks," said Viking guard Diego Solis when asked about his 2019 basketball debut following a collarbone triple fracture in football Oct. 20 that has sidelined him the entire basketball season until now.

"Are you going to play football?" he was asked before La Jolla's Western League basketball opener at home against Patrick Henry Thursday night, Jan. 3.

"Yes. I don't want to play defense." (The lefty is a quarterback, and sometime receiver, on offense.)

As the reporter began to move away, Solis, a sophomore, asserted, "I'm going to play quarterback next year."

Then, before players went to the sidelines after pregame warmups, Gabe Solis was asked his status following his own clavicle triple fracture in the same game his brother was hurt in.

"January 15," he replied. "My brother and I will be released to play at the same time."

That date would mean an away Western League game at Serra at 5:15 p.m. that afternoon. Two days later, the Vikings are scheduled to play top-ranked Mission Bay, powered by Duke commit Boogie Ellis, the reigning CIF Player of the Year, at Mission Bay.

Then, two days after that, La Jolla travels to St. Augustine's sparkling new sports complex to face Coach Mike Haupt's fourth-ranked Saints. That's two games within 48 hours against two San Diego powerhouses.

At the scorer's table, where he was poring over the team scorebook following the game, Viking Evan Brown was asked, "Are you going to come back in basketball this year?"

Brown also suffered a fractured clavicle in football Oct. 5, then tried to come back in basketball, re-breaking the bone in the first two minutes of his first game back against University City Nov. 29.

"I don't know," said the hurriedly-working forward, trying to button up his scorebook for Coach Paul Baranowski.

Senior wideout Gabe Solis jukes a Del Norte
defender in La Jolla's Sept. 7 game at the
North County school.
(Photo by Joseph Smith)

Moments later, out on the court, Gabe was approached as he chatted with senior classmate Cole Raulston. "Are you going to play football in college?" he was asked.

"We were just talking about that," the elder Solis brother said, smiling as he looked over at Raulston, a standout water polo goalie.

"I don't know."

Then, as the conversation progressed, he said, "If I don't play football in college, it won't be because of my injury" (he also suffered a collarbone triple fracture in the same game as his younger brother).