LJ FB history: 'Four more years'

By Ed Piper

Perusing the history of La Jolla High football seasons on partletonsports.com, I see that since the first Viking team is listed in 1924 (the school dates its founding to 1922, as the corner wall at Rushville St. memorializes), no head coach endured more than four seasons until Gene Edwards (1961-1989).

"Looking across the programs, continuity plays a role in the success of a team," said current La Jolla High head coach Tyler Roach, in the midst of completing his third year at the helm with a coveted Eastern League championship, earlier this week.

We were discussing not only the expertise of Roach and his coaching staff, but my observation that, for example, the boys soccer team excelled as soon as head coach Marco Gonzales and assistant coach Victor Zendejas brought some much-needed year-to-year carryover after years of constant coaching turnover.

The stability afforded by the same coaching staff coming back each year resulted in the Viking soccer team winning a CIF title.

Edwards' three-decade reign brought stability and success to the football team, helping establish a culture in which his predecessors, Dick "Hud" Huddleston (8 years, 1990-1997) and Dave Ponsford (11 years, 1998-20008) could continue a similar pattern in miniature.

Roach, after three years as Offensive Coordinator, then returned to LJHS after a year away, taking the reins and instituting a Family Day (this reporter never saw one of those before, in my 16 years of covering La Jolla High), his personality and way of doing things, a flag football league (started this fall), and other aspects. Hopefully, he stays around for a long time. He's a young man, and he has said "Hopefully" to that notion.

I've worked my way back to Coach Harry West, who preceded Edwards in the years 1957-1960 as head football coach. His teams weren't eminently successful, but I have heard his name mentioned. Before that is kind of unknown territory, stretching past anyone's institutional memory that I've encountered.

I wish Partleton had a similar archive of basketball teams. I'll have to look elsewhere for that.