By Ed Piper
A recap of La Jolla High's football season (4-0, Eastern League champs, 7-4 overall) in its march to the Division 3 semifinals:
Week 0 - The Vikings, in a preseason scrimmage, travelled to Hilltop to defeat the Lancers, who were embarking on their third straight South Bay League championship. Sophomore quarterback Jackson Stratton threw a touchdown reception. Not many people paid attention, because the tilt wasn't an official game.
Week 1 - Bishop's 18, La Jolla 7 - A huge student crowd for the season opener Aug. 23 saw the Viking defense hold quarterback Ty Buchner, a Notre Dame commit, and the Knights offense to two touchdowns. This was a Bishop's offense that has gone on to score 70 points three times, 60 points once, and 50 points four times--never less than 40. Vikings Head Coach Tyler Roach said he intentionally slowed his offense down, to help prevent a high-scoring game by Buchner and company. Stratton was 16 of 32 for 142 yards, but had five interceptions and a fumble. Max Smith intercepted Buchner twice, scored the Vikings' only TD on a 64-yard run, and totaled 138 rushing yards on 12 carries. Luke Brunette caught six passes for 69 yards. (0-1 record)
Week 2 - La Jolla 34, Mission Bay 13 - Another big, big whiteout crowd on Blast Off watched the visiting Buccaneers, whose head coach apparently took his own life just before official practice began in the fall, play with heart. Roach met with his team Wednesday to give them the news and prepare them emotionally. In a mistake-filled game, Jackson Stratton completed 15 of 23 passes for 189 yards and two TD's, including one to Cooper McNally. (1-1)
Week 3 - La Jolla 28, Santa Fe Christian 14 - Linebackers Max Smith, Jack Wiese, and Dirk Germon were physical in wearing down big Eagle running back Stephen Britton, who in the fourth quarter looked tired and resigned to the final result. Observers were surprised at the Vikings defeating a team from a good program, though this season's edition isn't as strong as in some previous seasons. (2-1)
Week 4 - Del Norte 15, La Jolla 7 - The Vikings ended up disappointed, having expected that their two straight victories pointed to a good result against the visiting Nighthawks. DN Coach Leigh Cole's offense methodically marched down the field on its opening drive to score first, setting a pattern that was repeated later by Morse and Mater Dei Catholic. (2-2)
Week 5 - Scripps Ranch 17, La Jolla 7 - Max Smith intercepted a pass and ran it back 75 yards, the Vikings' only score against the eventual City League champion Falcons, whose defense was giving up only two points a game. La Jolla's offense never got started. Roach, not for the first time, said, "We knew with our young offense that we would have a learning curve this year." (2-3)
Week 6 - Bye week.
Week 7 - La Jolla 15, Mira Mesa 7 - In a "boring" game, the Vikings ground out an Eastern League win against the Marauders in Mira Mesa, a team in a down year. (1-0 Eastern League, 3-3 overall)
Week 8 - La Jolla 35, Morse 12 - Two-way senior back Finn Rice was crowned "Homecoming Queen" (jokingly) at halftime. Against an admittedly beaten-up Morse, missing five starters due to injury in a 56-0 loss to highly-ranked St. Augustine the week before, the Vikings went 2-0 in league play. Defensive Coordinator Charles Bussey made adjustments after Morse cut through the LJ defense to score on its opening drive. (2-0 Eastern League, to everyone's surprise; 4-3 overall)
Week 9 - Lincoln 32, La Jolla 7 - In a new home-and-away series that started last year with the Hornets, a renowned football program in San Diego, the Vikings, with their physical defense, stayed with a bigger, stronger Lincoln team for the first half. Then the floodgates opened. (a non-league encounter; 4-4 overall)
Week 10 - La Jolla 39, University City 21 - The Vikings, loose and a little rowdy, licked their chops at going to battle against a weak (1-9) Centurion squad. They made mistakes early, but finally piled up points in the second half to spoil UC's Senior Night. (3-0 to gain at least part of the Eastern League title, 5-4 overall)
Week 11 - La Jolla 20, Christian 19 - In, by far, the most emotional game of the season, the Vikings, facing a 49-0 victor last year on the Patriots' home field at Granite Hills High, where brothers Gabe and Diego Solis went out in successive quarters with triple collarbone fractures, earned sole possession of the league title they would have shared with Christian (2-2) in the event of a loss. Christian coach Matt Oliver wondered before the game, "How did a (La Jolla) team with the same players as last year get so good?" They answered that question with the win. (4-0, league championship; 6-4 overall)
CIF playoffs - First round - Bye. San Diego High got upset by Kearny, moving the Vikings up from a number-four seed in the Division 3 bracket to number three. The top four seeds received a bye.
CIF playoffs - Quarterfinals - La Jolla 28, Mater Dei Catholic 14 - The Crusaders, a bigger, stronger team like Lincoln, led early, 7-0, before Max Smith (two rushing TD's, one passing from Jackson Stratton) and Diego Solis scored 28 unanswered points in the final three quarters. Smith and Jack Wiese punished bruising running back Aiden Calvert, who had an outstanding game, and backup quarterback Raymond Romero. (7-4; advance to D3 semifinals at home Nov. 22 against Brawley, which upset second-seed Hilltop, 34-33)
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