By Ed Piper
La Jolla put on a brave face Fri., Oct. 22, in its game at Cathedral Catholic. Cathedral, the number-one ranked team in the county, pulled out all the stops for Homecoming, with a huge crowd filling the Dons' side of the stadium, a smoke-and-light machine the student section could dance to, and a solemn dedication of a space on the upper campus to a deceased faculty member.
The brave face lasted pretty much through the first quarter, as Coach Tyler Roach's "new" Vikings scored first with Makai Smith doing his usual magician tricks, getting a hand on Kevin Steel's pass to somehow knock it into the air and away from his defender, then grab it and rush into the end zone to complete an improbable--for Makai, not really, though--41-yard pass play. Spence Carswell's kick was good, 7-0, La Jolla.
That sounded good for a short while.
The Cathedral punt coverage, with some out-sized individuals facing La Jolla's "puny" line, in comparison, busted in on a Carswell punt attempt and blocked it out of the end of the end zone for a safety. 7-2, La Jolla. That still sounded pretty good.
Even when the Dons, with 6'6" Charlie Mirer at quarterback, scored their first TD, no one on the La Jolla side was panicking. (Mirer is the son of former Notre Dame and Seattle Seahawks QB Rick Mirer, who measured only 6'3", 210 pounds.)
The Vikings finally scored another touchdown on Mason Powers' fleet grab of Steel's pass for an 82-yard completion. But by then, in the second quarter, Cathedral had piled on with massive defenders and began to pile up the score, leading 22-13, headed toward a 43-13 halftime score and the game, in all likelihood.
The gas was taken out of La Jolla's brave face and brave outlook, with starting QB Jackson Stratton not scheduled to make his return until a week later. It would have been interesting with him in there. Roach asked for, and got, a running clock in the second half, and that was all she wrote, 52-20, as Viking running back Justin Scully added a rushing TD to complete the scoring in the (short) fourth quarter.
Makai Smith had to be taken away at halftime in an ambulance, after he had his bell rung and medical personnel wanted to make sure he was observed and taken care of. We were told that that will end Makai's season and high school career.
