By Ed Piper
La Jolla tried to conceal some of its best weapons during a preseason scrimmage at Mount Carmel High Thursday evening, August 14: Safety/receiver/punt returner Carson Diehl wore number 9; junior Nico Bardaro, a defensive end/tight end who added quarterback to his resume Thursday, wore 88; and middle linebacker Charlie Martin dressed in the unfamiliar 11 jersey.
But woe to the weapon-hiders. Martin showed himself a raging running back when he took handoffs from quarterback Huddy Smith and tore down the left side of the field, the second one going for a TD.
By then, Bardaro, blossoming further after injuries slowed him the latter part of the season as a sophomore, had run and received for three TD's--receptions at the hands of Smith, who was throwing customarily well.
Diehl, the SDSU commit, had humbler but just as important contributions. He juked a defender after grabbing a pass near the left sideline as the Viking offense drove for the south end zone, and added a few yards as he slipped around the overmatched defenders before being tackled.
He had a grin after that one.
Being known is different from the days when he was an unknown sophomore two years ago, and nobody knew to game-plan for him. Now, Mt. Carmel coach Drew Westling and his colleagues know to have an answer for Carson, or he will burn you even worse.
As a result, sometimes it appears that Diehl has to carry the weight of the team as well as multiple tacklers if he is going to make further progress. Not an outgoing guy, he remains quieter as cameras are aimed his way and as the spotlight gets brighter in this senior year.
Unfortunately for Mt. Carmel, the Sun Devils' offense got weaker as the scrimmage--announced for a 6 p.m. start, but not getting underway until after 6:30, as a referee crew chief took a few minutes to go over "emphases" that will be carried through by referees this season for players of both teams--went on.
La Jolla's offense got better, as players got excited and then took advantage in only the way that sports and adrenaline can combine to make things easier for the time being.
That's when Martin tore things up. Aiden Farrell, only a sophomore, played both ways, exhibiting his imitation of the graduated Aidan "Carolina" McGill from the last two years by running between the tackles for some hard yardage.
Late in the scrimmage, Farrell also made a stop on defense as the Viking unit under new Defensive Coordinator Randy Cowell showed some skill.
There were multiple offsides and encroachment flags against La Jolla. "Hopefully, they got that out of their system in the scrimmage," commented one observer.
Next week, in week one of the regular season, the Vikings will travel to Torrey Pines Fri., Aug. 22, to face a juggernaut of a program. The Falcons have bigger and more players, which means they can send in fresh troops to wear down the lesser-numbered La Jollans.
A strategy to counteract some of the advantages Torrey Pines may possess is for better athletes to play both ways. Head coach Tyler Roach brought that approach with him when he took over the program eight years ago. He will definitely have to apply that technique this season.
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