LJ FB 20, Christian 19 - Eastern League champions

Receiver Finn Rice talks on PPR after his
17-yard catch that tied the game
with 12 seconds left.
(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Matt Oliver, head coach of the Christian High football team, posed a question before their game at La Jolla Fri., Nov. 1 to end the regular season: "I don't know why they've gotten so much better this year." Oliver, in his 21st year as head coach, was referring to last year's shellacking of the Vikings, 49-0.

The visiting coach soon had his answer, as La Jolla's stout defense held the private school, which offers scholarships, to a single touchdown in the first half.

The Vikings' hard hitting countered Christian's own approach, which led to two La Jolla players sustaining triple collarbone fractures in last year's game, lending an especially emotional layer to the encounter.

The hosts, playing on Senior Night for sole possession of the Eastern League title, finally scored to begin the third quarter on Max Smith's 53-yard breakaway run to make the score 7-6. La Jolla botched the point-after snap to trail by one.

With the stakes high, Patriots running back Nate Stine pushed across a touchdown with 38 seconds left in the game for a 19-13 lead. Christian's freshman kicker, a lefty, hit the right upright with the PAT, having it bounce away, setting the stage for a single-possession decision.

In an almost unbelievable chain of events, Viking quarterback Jackson Stratton, who had been inconsistent the whole game, found receiver Diego Solis for a 24-yard reception to the Christian 17.

Then, with no timeouts left, Stratton delivered a strike in the end zone to Finn Rice for a touchdown with 12 seconds left. Rice cradled the pass in both arms as he fell in the end zone. Devin Bale kicked the extra point, and La Jolla held off Christian for a 20-19 win and its first championship since 1995.

Afterward, in the wild title celebration, when students stormed out of the stands to join the players on the field, Rice could hardly remember the details of his winning catch.

But Solis, who had to go up in the air to catch his pass from Stratton, said, "I had to adjust to the ball (because it was a little off line). I saw I had room, and ran."

But Diego quickly went down with a tackle, saving precious seconds with Coach Tyler Roach having no remaining timeouts.

Stratton, waiting for the line to form, quickly spiked the ball to kill the clock. The scoreboard clock, at the opposite end of Edwards Stadium, stopped at 12 seconds.

On second-and-10, the sophomore's first passing attempt fell untouched as a La Jolla receiver took a tumble short of the ball.

The next play went to Rice, the 5'9" senior, for the 17-yard game-winner. After the student body poured over the railing onto the field and team members drenched Roach, Rice, coming out of the frantic celebration of La Jolla's first title in a quarter century, wore a bleary-eyed look--his first TD reception of the season.

Solis, with his older brother Gabe, since graduated, went down with the collarbone fracture in last year's contest played at Granite Hills High. The win was especially gratifying for him.