By Ed Piper
La Jolla's defense stopped running back Ryan Stadtherr just short of the goal line--on an attempted two-point conversion to tie after a touchdown as time ran out--to preserve a 17-15 victory in another classic of the continuing rivalry between Scripps Ranch and the Vikings Friday night, Aug. 25.
Ryan Kestler, a free safety weighing 155 pounds, and big Sawyer Moseley, topping the scales at 230, were the opposing forces that blunted Stadtherr's rush for the end zone.
From his perspective, Falcon head coach Marlon Gardinera said before the game that Scripps' games with La Jolla are getting to be like their rivalry with Mira Mesa.
Two years ago, Scripps Ranch beat La Jolla in the Division 2 Finals (a lopsided 42-0 defeat) after the two teams met during the regular season in week two and the Falcons eked out a 52-51 win.
In Friday's nail-biter, quarterback Jackson Diehl, coming off a monster game producing six TD's against Bishop's, rallied the Vikings with a seven-yard scoring toss to the almost-unused Hank Hansen for a 7-2 lead in the second quarter.
Kicker-supreme Evan Martin followed with a short field goal to put La Jolla up 10-2 before an adoring Blast Off crowd that was looking for more to make noise about.
The almost-baseball-like score stood up until Diehl, trying to get a rhythm against Scripps, which lost its earlier seeming momentum on the thundering safety, found Hansen again for a 22-yard completion, 17-2, with less than nine minutes left in the game.
With 0:00 showing on the clock at the end of regulation, La Jolla's defense stopped Scripps Ranch on the two-point attempt.
That followed Markell Martin's 100-yard kickoff return for a TD with 8:40 remaining. The score bringing the Falcons to within two points of the Vikings came when a defender slammed into lefty QB Cassius Campbell. The ball popped out, but it was recovered in the end zone by receiver Alex Ariaudo after it bounced forward.
Definitely, a madcap finish on a Pepto Bismol night for the Vikings.
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