LJ FB 34, Mission Bay 13 - Blast Off

The western skies above the players

were beautiful shades of purple

at 7:35 p.m., half an hour

after kickoff.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

"It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." Charles Dickens

The pluses:

--La Jolla High, after narrowly falling to Bishop's 18-9 in week one of the football season, put the crunch on visiting Mission Bay Fri., Aug. 30, with a 34-13 triumph before a large whiteout Blast Off crowd.

--Sophomore quarterback Jackson Stratton continued to exhibit his strong arm, accumulating 189 yards on 15 of 23 passes, with two touchdowns.

--Bruiser Max Smith, a leader of the stout Viking defense, again pounded his way on the offensive side to 76 yards gained on the ground in 10 carries, including one TD.

--Receiver Cooper McNally, a consistent target of Stratton's, led the La Jolla receiving corps with 62 yards. On the game's opening drive, he took an 18-yard pass from Jackson to hit paydirt, one of four receptions.

--And the Vikings saw a rejuvenated Diego Solis share time at the quarterback position with Stratton, plowing determinedly on three straight plays to LJHS's last score halfway through the fourth quarter.

On the other hand, Coach Tyler Roach's charges looked at times like the Keystone Cops, falling prone to mistakes even more than in their showing against the Knights the week before--though the Buccaneers are nowhere in the same class as Bishop's (which utterly destroyed University City 58-12 Friday night).

--The hosts repeatedly fumbled the ball, one of Roach's main emphases to correct in practice during the week.

Mission Bay's Michael Moreno scampered 52 yards for a touchdown after collecting a La Jolla fumble early in the second quarter.

--Interceptions, another bugaboo, also encouraged the Bucs' Evan Augon, whom Coach A.J. Vines called his key player, to extend himself even more in multiple roles as quarterback, running back, receiver, and defender, as he took advantage of the free form of the undisciplined contest to keep Mission Bay in the game 20-13 in the first half.

La Jolla started to pull away in the second half on Smith's pick six of Aguon for a 27-13 lead at the 1:57 mark of the third quarter. Max's electric runback, directly in front of the huge whiteout student body, covered 35 yards.

Makai Smith, playing his first game for the Vikings, took a short pass from Stratton for a TD ending the second period.

Roach basically told his troops to go home and go to bed after the late 9:30 finish. Caught smiling on the sidelines with a 21-point lead late in the game, the third-year coach said, "Yeah, but I'm not happy about things."