The Vikings' ninth season under Head Coach Tyler Roach--a period in which the program has continued to grow and garner respect among the knowledgeable in the San Diego Section--consisted of three predominating stages:
--The offense under senior quarterback Huddy Smith, which began in the opener at Torrey Pines, and then sprinkled over a couple of other games early in the season, before he suffered a season-ending concussion at Point Loma in week six (week five was a bye week).
--Same under freshman fill-in at QB Ty Tortorice, in weeks 2 and 3, then week 7, all wins by decent margins. Ty, a ninth-grader asked to fill some pretty big shoes under some pretty bright lights, performed admirably when called upon.
--Finally, weeks 9-10-11 under healed-collarbone QB Emerson Rota, who had three good passing games, topped by 26 for 39 and 339 yards in a 41-35 loss to St. Augustine at Mesa College in week 10.
Throughout, sophomore running back Aiden Farrell excelled--while playing both ways at safety as well--topping 200 yards rushing in a pair of games, topping 100 a few other times. He reached 1,193 rushing yards, almost ascending to a magic-number 1,200 for the season.
In addition, SDSU-bound Carson Diehl proved to be a constant threat at wide receiver (also while playing both ways), opening up the Vikings' spread offense under Roach, a creative offensive mind and his own Offensive Coordinator. Diehl piled up more than 1,000 yards receiving from the hands of multiple quarterbacks, hitting the 1,009 mark.
In the Tortorice phase, the La Jolla coach supplemented his looks with all sorts of devices: Diehl taking snaps directly in the wildcat; defensive end/tight end Nico Bardaro filling in a little as a running QB and disher to Farrell and others; and other distractions. The multiple looks gave the Vikings a chance to put opposing defenses on their heels to have to figure out what to react to. Many times, the approach worked.
The only dropouts--like an old cassette tape used to have--came in the Lincoln game (a 54-3 loss to a top team in San Diego Section) in week 8, and the final game, a playoff loss at home to Scripps Ranch. The opener at Torrey Pines was rough, ending 43-19, but the Vikings came back in the second half to show some of what they were capable of.
The 2025 season presented a lot of challenges Roach had never had to face before, with Huddy expected to return after a good junior season to captain the offense at QB again. Smith's injuries proved to be just a bump in the road for the team, as Tyler turned to his notepad and iPad to scratch out some other ways of spinning the football.
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