LJ FB 49, Morse 12 - Season opener

At halftime, Viking players (including Max Smith,

far left) relax with a surprising 35-6 score

to lead host Morse. (Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

In a hard-hitting and injury-filled opener, La Jolla's football team traveled to Morse High Friday night, March 19, and delivered more than a statement in a bone-jarring 49-12 win over the host Tigers in the teams' belated season opener.

Linebacker-turned-running back Max Smith basically carried the ball on every down in the Vikings' initial drive of the game up to Diego Solis' 16-yard scoring strike from junior quarterback Jackson Stratton for a 7-0 lead, and Coach Tyler Roach's defending league and Southern California champions piled up a stunning 42-6 first half lead, never looking back.

Solis, the Vikings' talented and hard-working all-purpose athlete also playing free safety on defense,  snagged another Stratton aerial with his left hand, his feet mere inches inside the right end zone line, then cradled the ball to his chest for his third touchdown catch of the night.

It marked only the third play of the second quarter, as La Jolla, seemingly full of pent-up energy after the long-delayed football season finally kicked off with an abbreviated five-game Eastern League schedule due to the COVID virus, vented all of it against their league rival.

The visitors took a surprising 21-6 lead at that point on Devin Bale's third straight PAT.

A grinning La Jolla QB Jackson Stratton (15), who grew

to 6'4"1/2 since last season, and his teammates

break for halftime at Morse. 

The Tigers' Byron Cardwell, the state's number-one running back headed for Oregon, seemingly ran out of gas with the Vikings' defense focused on him and pounding him at every turn. He and some of the other Morse starters exited midway through the second quarter to catch their breath and probably to try to figure out how La Jolla unexpectedly mounted such a physical attack.

Bale, headed to Northern Colorado next year as a kicking/punting specialist, got into the offensive act himself, snagging two bullets from a collected, more-efficient Stratton in the end zone for TD's.

Viking lineman Danny Molestina, a junior, went down with an left ankle injury early in the second quarter. Senior cornerback Noah Pavlik injured his right arm and was seen with the wing in a sling on the sidelines.

LJHS JV coach Craig Gagliardi

holds one of Viking lineman

Grady Mitchell's relatives.