The true grit of the La Jolla High football team during the 2024 campaign showed up in the "Hank Hansen game" in week five--a 38-7 shellacking of down-the-road rival Mission Bay Sept. 20 after starting quarterback Hudson Smith was sidelined after banging his head against Rancho Bernardo, and the inner fortitude of the Vikings was put to the test.
While Hansen, normally an H-back, had had a week to prepare at the QB role leading up the Eastern League opener, fellow senior Ryan Kestler started off the contest against the Buccaneers with a bang on a 90-yard return of the opening kickoff for a quick 7-0 lead.
Then, after the defense quickly forced Mission Bay into a three-and-out, Hansen expertly managed the La Jolla offense down the field in a 12-play drive, scripted by Roach, that combined many of the Vikings' weapons: four carries by running back Aidan McGill, completions to receivers Kai Fukuda and Andre McLees Walker, and three keepers in which Hank called his own number.
The scoring drive was rapid-fire, it was physical, and La Jolla's emergency fill-in field general performed admirably as the black-and-red moved to a 14-0 lead before Mission Bay's players knew what had hit them.
This was La Jolla at its best, in a season that opened with three impressive wins over able opponents--Bishop's, Torrey Pines (their first game against each other since 1991), and Madison. The inevitable letdown came with a beating at Rancho Bernardo, whose athletes blossomed under NFL great/coach Eric Weddle after looking overmatched in 2023, accompanied by the forced inactive status of Huddy Smith after the head-bang.
The swoon carried through a narrow loss at Scripps Ranch, before moving into the "free-for-all" phase of the season with a 56-42 street-brawl triumph over winless Mira Mesa. Poor Francis Parker had to experience all the fury of the Vikings the next week, getting clobbered at its own Homecoming before prospective students and parents, in a total mismatch made possible by scheduling issues.
La Jolla's dying to self happened at the hands of Point Loma and former Defensive Coordinator Ryan Price, who dealt the Vikes a tough 34-20 loss Oct. 25, followed by University City's dominance the next week as the black-and-red struggled there a little bit in who they were and what they stood for.
Once again, a determined senior core, with Hansen, Kestler (playing all-league safety again), and giant Jett Thomas on the line leading the way, brought Roach's eighth team at LJHS to a CIF D2 first-round win over the bad boys from Madison (their second this season), who appeared to underperform this year, 27-15, on Nov. 8.
* * *
The Vikings, in their new reality as a team capable of powerful things under Roach as coach, however were no match for Helix and its running back, Pablo Jackson, in the second round of CIF. Jackson gained 275 yards going away.
But--to be said again, La Jolla has now been respected in the area as a strong football program for multiple years. The Southern California Regionals championship in 2019 was the highlight. In addition, several league titles have put trophies on the shelf for the Roach Vikings. This season was just a little up-and-down, needing more skillful decision-making and performance under fire on the field. That's what high school sports are all about: a learning lab of growth, just like a physical classroom for academics on campus.
No comments:
Post a Comment