Nico Bardaro (15), Vikings edge rusher, tackles
Saints QB Julian Chanfreau for a loss of two yards.
(Photo by Ed Piper)
By Ed Piper
A pair of 1-3 teams met up in their Eastern League opener Friday night, Sept. 25, and St. Augustine--in the roomy confines of their rented home field, Mesa College--bushwhacked the Vikings, 35-18.
But it wasn't even that close: The Saints led 35-0 with less than a minute gone in the fourth quarter, before running back Kali Deberry, tight end Nico Bardaro, and back-up quarterback Brody Bukich went to work to score three touchdowns in the next eight and a half minutes of elapsed time.
Unfortunately for La Jolla head coach Tyler Roach and his struggling minions, the Paisios and Ephraim Polamalu show went even better than advertised.
Pai, the older son of NFL Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu, repeated his performance of a year ago against the Vikings on the same field. He demolished the red-and-black defense with scampers up the middle, around the side without being touched, and even on returns of kicks (the last until La Jolla learned better).
Aiding the senior this time was his sophomore brother, who goes by "Phri", pronounced "Free", from the middle part of his name Ephraim, a chunkier version in the family line who reinforced his sibling's efforts to stymie and harass the visitors.
La Jolla seemed to sleep-walk from the start after a bye week following an encouraging 26-0 defeat of La Jolla Country Day.
A blocked punt by the dependable Ryan Hassankhani, that was run into the end zone from the 22-yard line by senior Matthew Weinpel, smelled like trouble immediately.
In focusing on Pai Polamalu, that took the Vikings' defense from focusing on other aspects of the St. Augustine offense. So athlete Mateo Iuli ran the ball in from 32 yards out for TD number two. That followed Pai's superhuman run from southeast to northwest against a team of tacklers who couldn't bring him down over 21 yards.
After a tongue-lashing by Roach during halftime as the season now seems in crisis, La Jolla emerged from the locker room to give up a 54-yard pass play and touchdown involving receiver Ryan Haniger
within the first three seconds of play from scrimmage opening the third quarter. The Mesa College scoreboard, missing many lights just like it did in 2025, read 11:57.
The Saints, having lost three games already, isn't a great team. But La Jolla made them look that way with a dispiriting performance.
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