La Jolla's struggles in football starting the 2026 season (0-3 through last Friday, Sept. 4) weirdly parallel my own attempts to deal with a bad case of COVID over the same period of time.
This Friday's (Sept. 11) game was my first attendance and reporting with some semblance of health. No more bright red eyes (with salt-like grime coming out of them three weeks ago), no more hacking cough (last Friday, the home opener against Point Loma)--I had to leave at halftime with the most recent cough.
The 26-0 victory over visiting La Jolla Country Day left me the chance to catch my breath and finally say, "We're making some headway," for both the Viking football team and for me (and my wife, who I gave COVID).
It was a little bit sad, I have to say honestly, with the Torreys' thrashing at the hands of La Jolla. I had something invested in the visiting team, since they are one of the four schools I rotate (along with LJ, UC, and Bishop's) in covering sports for in the La Jolla Village News/Times of San Diego. Before the game, finally having some voice to use, I worked on a feature about the LJCD team by interviewing the Defensive Coordinator, various players who were available before warmups, and even quarterback Will Bertrand.
The sadness: Will, soon after I interviewed him in one corner of the Viking weight room, was badly injured on a pass play when his lower leg flipped, hyperextending it, and apparently dislocating his hip, all on one unfortunate play. Then his successor at QB, Marvin Jones III, also got carted off the field. Both are spending different kinds of weekends, especially Bertrand, a junior at LJCD, who is going to have to work to rehab his leg after it heals.
I wouldn't have been able to meet him and the others, nor be at the game long, if I hadn't been feeling better. I had a case of COVID back closer to when the pandemic started and hit us locally March 13, 2020, but this one, a "lighter strain", according to someone at the doctor's, hit me much harder. I spent most of last week sleeping several days.
And I'm still not out of the woods.
So, for all those Viking fall athletic teams I haven't been able to cover lately, I'll be back giving you a hard time (I'm kidding, I think) as I feel better and regain some strength.
In Coach Tyler Roach's 10 years at La Jolla High, I don't remember another 0-3 start. It has been rough. But he has always been a head coach and an Offensive Coordinator with a million ideas and ways to involve new players, put playmakers in the fore, and generate more offense when either someone gets injured or the offense just needs more juice.
Right now, running back Kali Deberry is looking like the one to get anyone out of the doldrums. He carried the ball Friday against the Torreys 18 times for 155 yards. He brings to mind Aidan "Carolina" McGill from two years ago, who also gained the hard yardage and ended up being an All-Eastern League running back.
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