LJ FB 28, Point Loma 21

"The Shoe", emblematic of the winner

of the LJ-Point Loma football game

each year.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

The Vikings (2-1) dug themselves quite a hole, trailing a spirited Point Loma team under new coach Joel Allen 21-7 at halftime and 21-14 as late as three minutes into the final quarter.

But quarterback Jackson Stratton worked some comeback magic, connecting with receiver Mason Powers for an 89-yard score, then Makai Smith as La Jolla's football team pulled out a 28-21 win Fri., Sept. 3, in a non-league contest at Edwards Field.

Between the two late TD's, Viking defender Landon Donovan swiped a Jackson Emerson pass on 4th-and-4 with 4:56 left in the game to set up the winning drive, which included three completions to marvelous Makai in a four-play series. The other play was a keeper by Stratton to the 11-yard line.

The comeback triumph, played before vocal opposing student bodies--one (La Jolla's) of which began streaming onto the field in the second quarter before administrators got students back in the stands--means that the Vikings re-take possession of "the Boot", a gold spray-painted football shoe symbolic of the two schools' rivalry series.

The Viking 'D' regroups during a timeout

with Defensive Coordinator Stephen Dixon.

Just before halftime, Pointer tight end Cayden Nantkes, a junior, grabbed an Emerson pass veering out of bounds in front of the white-clad LJHS student body (which stood the entire game).

Still clutching the football, Nantkes ran up near the wall in front of the stands, thrusting the ball in the air. The Viking students went nuts, and the junior was assessed a 15-yard excessive celebration penalty, which killed Point Loma's drive and negated the progress he had made on the pass completion.

This occurred soon after the La Jolla students began climbing the railing to drop down onto the track and stream onto the field before school supervisors stemmed the movement, restoring some order in that part of the stadium.

The few LJ students who went onto the field

early in the second quarter get corralled

by campus supervisors.

An injured Point Loma player went down and stayed down for 20 minutes with 8:15 on the clock in the first quarter. He was able to respond to EMT's and doctors attending to him by pointing to his chest. They stabilized his neck with a neck collar and eventually loaded him into an ambulance before driving him to a hospital.

An update on his condition was not available later Friday night. Two other Pointers went down during the game, though temporarily and of a much shorter duration.