By Ed Piper
Standing atop the City League football standings with a 2-0 record, La Jolla also has leaders in individual statistical areas among league players.
On the current posting on MaxPreps.com (Oct. 18), quarterback Trevor Scully leads all passers with 1,465 yards, over a hundred yards ahead of the nearest competitor.
Meanwhile, his favorite target, Gabe Solis, leads all receivers with 671 yards, over 150 yards ahead of the second-place receiver. Solis also ranks third in total touchdowns with seven. The fleet junior is also third in total points with 42.
On the defensive side, Johnathan O'Neal, despite missing some games due to injury, holds the number one spot in interceptions with five. Sola Hope is tied for second with three picks.
The Vikings' Nick Goehler leads in PAT's with 16 made in 16 attempts. Cody Lefler of Patrick Henry also has 16, but he has missed two kicks.
Goehler, a junior from Halle, Germany, also is tied for the lead in kick scoring with 19 points, adding a field goal to his PAT's. He is tied with Lefler, who also has one field goal.
Nick is third in kickoff yardage, with 368 yards on nine kicks. The leaders above him have over twice as many kickoffs tabulated.
Solis ranks first in punt return average with 13.3 yards per return. He has 53 yards in four returns, with a long of 24 yards.
Despite ranking 10th on kickoff returns, Gabe stands second in total return yardage (for kicks and punts) with 199 yards.
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Prep sports: Protect the cranium
By Ed Piper
I'm not trying to be heretical, but a thought struck me the last several days as I substitute-taught in the San Dieguito Union High School District and the realization sank in that, not only San Dieguito Academy, but also Canyon Crest Academy do not have football programs.
How simple. You avoid the whole issue of CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, of which there is mounting evidence.
Now, Tyler Roach and his assistant coaches in the La Jolla High program are good people. This article is not intended to be a knock on them.
Nor on the volunteer coaches who train kids in La Jolla in the youth football program. I've talked to some of those people, interviewed them, gone to practice, and observed them in action. They really care about the young men they're coaching. They do a great job.
But the past Friday, October 13 (Friday the 13th--maybe a goblin took over my mind), someone explained to me that the CCA Ravens don't have a football program. I have covered La Jolla playing CCA in other sports for years. I have subbed at CCA regularly for the past year and a half.
But I never quite got it in my mind that the flagship sports at that public school on Highway 56, almost smack dab next to Cathedral Catholic High School (with Westview and Torrey Pines high schools a short distance either direction along the 56), have been basketball, volleyball, and other sports all these 10 years of CCA's existence.
The way it was explained to me was, "Well, SDA already had that situation (no football program). So when CCA was started a decade ago, the same idea was brought over."
No matter how good of people you have running your football program, the inevitable questions are going to be asked, with increasing frequency, why have football for young people at all, when the evidence for brain trauma is being documented as we speak?
The NFL supports flag football leagues for children. If that doesn't tell you something, nothing will.
I think pro football will last for years to come, but more and more, we're going to see high school teams struggle to field enough players. Parents rightfully have to be asking, is it really worth it for my child to play a sport that could endanger their brain, when there are lots of other alternatives for recreation out there?
I'm not trying to be heretical, but a thought struck me the last several days as I substitute-taught in the San Dieguito Union High School District and the realization sank in that, not only San Dieguito Academy, but also Canyon Crest Academy do not have football programs.
How simple. You avoid the whole issue of CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, of which there is mounting evidence.
Now, Tyler Roach and his assistant coaches in the La Jolla High program are good people. This article is not intended to be a knock on them.
Nor on the volunteer coaches who train kids in La Jolla in the youth football program. I've talked to some of those people, interviewed them, gone to practice, and observed them in action. They really care about the young men they're coaching. They do a great job.
But the past Friday, October 13 (Friday the 13th--maybe a goblin took over my mind), someone explained to me that the CCA Ravens don't have a football program. I have covered La Jolla playing CCA in other sports for years. I have subbed at CCA regularly for the past year and a half.
But I never quite got it in my mind that the flagship sports at that public school on Highway 56, almost smack dab next to Cathedral Catholic High School (with Westview and Torrey Pines high schools a short distance either direction along the 56), have been basketball, volleyball, and other sports all these 10 years of CCA's existence.
The way it was explained to me was, "Well, SDA already had that situation (no football program). So when CCA was started a decade ago, the same idea was brought over."
No matter how good of people you have running your football program, the inevitable questions are going to be asked, with increasing frequency, why have football for young people at all, when the evidence for brain trauma is being documented as we speak?
The NFL supports flag football leagues for children. If that doesn't tell you something, nothing will.
I think pro football will last for years to come, but more and more, we're going to see high school teams struggle to field enough players. Parents rightfully have to be asking, is it really worth it for my child to play a sport that could endanger their brain, when there are lots of other alternatives for recreation out there?
Prep sports: 'Sondy'
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| One of my "play for your neighborhood school" poster boys, Reed Farley, now playing for Harvard. (Photo by Ed Piper) |
By Ed Piper
The more I write about high school sports, the more I appreciate Eric Sondheimer.
When you're in the peanut gallery, not actually doing something, it's easy to take a jaundiced eye at those in the arena who are doing the task day-to-day.
This was my view of the high school sports reporter for the Los Angeles Times, a publication which I have read regularly since I was in my early teens in Camarillo, California.
Covering prep sports is not considered real glamorous, and gets the poo-poo from others who fancy themselves as more in the limelight by virtue of the fact they cover college or pro sports.
I had people look down on me for covering La Jolla High sports. I remember during the peak years when Lincoln High had basketball star Norman Powell, and a lot of bandwagon riders came into the picture.
One gentleman, otherwise thoroughly likeable, was drawn to the Hornet hoop scene like a firefly to light by the state playoff success of the program. He readily admitted it as he went about his rounds taking video of the Lincoln starlets. He comments reflected an attitude of, "Why do you even bother hanging around a program that isn't as glamorous and doesn't have the star attraction?", meaning the Viking ballers, who always came into a Lincoln-La Jolla game as the underdogs.
Eric Sondheimer has now been the Times' high school point man for a couple of decades. And he writes with a lot of wisdom and common sense, in an arena that more and more resembles a place where the denizens have lost their minds--school-to-school transfers, coaches forcing players to pay them for private coaching if they want to play, idiotic stuff.
The other day Sondheimer had a piece on the drop in attendance at playoff games in the Southern Section (which encompasses a lot of Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura counties). One of the factors he attributed this decline to is poor matchups.
That rang a bell. With elite school teams grouped in the Open Division of the playoffs, lesser teams fill up the Division 1, 2, 3, and 4 brackets. There aren't enough good school teams to fill all the slots, so even teams with bad losing records qualify for the postseason.
That means that in the early rounds of the playoffs--now I'm bringing it home to the San Diego Section--many of the pairings are lopsided. A good team has to play an opponent that has no business being in the playoffs. They call this playoff competition?
Another factor Sondheimer cited for low attendance is ticket prices. I've always thought those were at fairy-tale levels. Ten dollars for an adult ticket to see your local team play? It's to support the CIF structure and pay the officials. I get it partially, but not totally.
Another new factor, besides the creation of the Open Division, is the sky-rocketing number of transfers. One high school basketball team had four of its five starters last year as new transfers from other schools. What happened to the kids who grew up in the neighborhood? They don't get to play, because we've gone to a pro-like cattle-call system of free agents who you don't recognize from one year to the next?
Stay home, is my motto. Stay home, in the sense of student-athletes (they're still students) playing for their hometown team. Don't transfer. Don't yield to the temptation that so many others do that "the grass is greener on the other side" to enroll elsewhere just so the coach there might give you more playing time.
Saturday, October 14, 2017
CIF sports: Playing days
By Ed Piper
Have you ever wondered why La Jolla's field hockey team plays league games on Mondays and Thursdays, and the boys water polo team plays league matches on Tuesdays and Thursdays?
Well, so have I. And the explanation is all there on the CIF San Diego Section website (cifsds.org), which I was looking at and where I found a file titled "Assigned Playing Days".
An advisory committee of athletic directors and other administrators meets for each sport, and one of the things they hash out is what days games will take place on.
I'm sure part of the goal is to distribute contests for their student-athletes on different days of the week, because an administrator is assigned to be present at each game to be available and to trouble-shoot anything that needs to be taken care of.
So, in the Western League for the 2017-18 school year, the Vikings' girls volleyball team plays league matches on Wednesdays and Fridays. That was set up in advance, and is the same day format as was in place for the 2016-17 school year.
Another element that comes into play is the availability of game officials. So that all leagues' matches aren't held on the same day, thus depleting the supply of referees and making it impossible to cover all games across CIF, the Eastern League is holding its girls volleyball matches this year on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Central League is holding its matches the same days as the Western, on Wednesdays and Fridays.
While Paul Baranowski's boys basketball team and Darice Carnaje's girls basketball team will again play their league games on Tuesdays and Fridays next January and February, schools in the Coastal Conference have changed both sports to a Wednesday/Friday format, previously having league games on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Have you ever wondered why La Jolla's field hockey team plays league games on Mondays and Thursdays, and the boys water polo team plays league matches on Tuesdays and Thursdays?
Well, so have I. And the explanation is all there on the CIF San Diego Section website (cifsds.org), which I was looking at and where I found a file titled "Assigned Playing Days".
An advisory committee of athletic directors and other administrators meets for each sport, and one of the things they hash out is what days games will take place on.
I'm sure part of the goal is to distribute contests for their student-athletes on different days of the week, because an administrator is assigned to be present at each game to be available and to trouble-shoot anything that needs to be taken care of.
So, in the Western League for the 2017-18 school year, the Vikings' girls volleyball team plays league matches on Wednesdays and Fridays. That was set up in advance, and is the same day format as was in place for the 2016-17 school year.
Another element that comes into play is the availability of game officials. So that all leagues' matches aren't held on the same day, thus depleting the supply of referees and making it impossible to cover all games across CIF, the Eastern League is holding its girls volleyball matches this year on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Central League is holding its matches the same days as the Western, on Wednesdays and Fridays.
While Paul Baranowski's boys basketball team and Darice Carnaje's girls basketball team will again play their league games on Tuesdays and Fridays next January and February, schools in the Coastal Conference have changed both sports to a Wednesday/Friday format, previously having league games on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Friday, October 13, 2017
LJ b water polo: Power Rankings
By Ed Piper
The most recent CIF Power Rankings (Oct. 13) show La Jolla's boys water polo team sitting at a 45.28-point total, good for sixth among Division 1 teams.
Tom Atwell's team, 3-3-0 in league and 10-8-0 overall, trails Bishop's by a measly .02 points for fifth place.
From the top, Carlsbad leads at 46.05, followed by Poway, 45.65; Cathedral Catholic, 45.50; then Vista in the fifth slot at 45.32.
Due to the competitiveness of the division, and the heavy schedule that all the top-ranked teams carry, no team in the top seven has fewer than seven losses. Even Carlsbad and Poway, the two top front-runners, have six losses each.
The most recent CIF Power Rankings (Oct. 13) show La Jolla's boys water polo team sitting at a 45.28-point total, good for sixth among Division 1 teams.
Tom Atwell's team, 3-3-0 in league and 10-8-0 overall, trails Bishop's by a measly .02 points for fifth place.
From the top, Carlsbad leads at 46.05, followed by Poway, 45.65; Cathedral Catholic, 45.50; then Vista in the fifth slot at 45.32.
Due to the competitiveness of the division, and the heavy schedule that all the top-ranked teams carry, no team in the top seven has fewer than seven losses. Even Carlsbad and Poway, the two top front-runners, have six losses each.
LJ FB: Patrick Henry preview
By Ed Piper
Patrick Henry, La Jolla's next opponent in City League football, has a very balanced offensive attack. No one player stands out statistically, as the Patriots, 1-0 in league, 2-4 overall, just like the Vikings, grind it out by committee.
Quarterback Ethan Gomez, a junior, has completed 59 of 114 passes for 823 yards. That's workmanlike, if not spectacular. He has thrown for four touchdowns while coughing up five interceptions.
Meanwhile, in the ground attack, he is one of five Patriots with 200 or nearly 200 yards rushing: Gomez the leader with 240, then Carlito Nothalf, 238, Darius Mootry, 228, Colin Frye, 218, and Melvin Harris, 186.
Gomez's receivers, likewise, play air-by-committee, with four pass-catchers having accumulated 145 or more yards through the team's first six games. Seniors Tyjhay Reed (the ultimate tongue-twister) and Brett Allen are the leaders, with 237 and 236 yards, respectively, followed by juniors Jacob Adelman, with 197, and Frye, the all-purpose-yard guy, with 145.
The two teams square off at Edwards Field at 6:30 p.m. on Friday the 13th. We'll see if it turns out to be a scary time.
Patrick Henry, La Jolla's next opponent in City League football, has a very balanced offensive attack. No one player stands out statistically, as the Patriots, 1-0 in league, 2-4 overall, just like the Vikings, grind it out by committee.
Quarterback Ethan Gomez, a junior, has completed 59 of 114 passes for 823 yards. That's workmanlike, if not spectacular. He has thrown for four touchdowns while coughing up five interceptions.
Meanwhile, in the ground attack, he is one of five Patriots with 200 or nearly 200 yards rushing: Gomez the leader with 240, then Carlito Nothalf, 238, Darius Mootry, 228, Colin Frye, 218, and Melvin Harris, 186.
Gomez's receivers, likewise, play air-by-committee, with four pass-catchers having accumulated 145 or more yards through the team's first six games. Seniors Tyjhay Reed (the ultimate tongue-twister) and Brett Allen are the leaders, with 237 and 236 yards, respectively, followed by juniors Jacob Adelman, with 197, and Frye, the all-purpose-yard guy, with 145.
The two teams square off at Edwards Field at 6:30 p.m. on Friday the 13th. We'll see if it turns out to be a scary time.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
LJ FB 52, Hoover 10
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| Senior captain Tucker Jacobs (9), who had a 32-yard TD reception from Trevor Scully against Hoover. (Photos by Ed Piper) |
By Ed Piper
Senior Trevor Scully had his most productive game as La Jolla's quarterback, passing for five touchdowns in the first half and piling up 289 yards, as the Vikings swamped an over-matched Hoover team 52-10 at home Fri., Oct. 6, to win their opening City League game.
Scully connected for TD's with four different receivers, going to Gabe Solis twice, and running back Zach Garcia added a seven-yard run in the first quarter as La Jolla built up a 45-10 halftime lead to set up a running clock for the entire second half.
The 5'11" Scully avoided his bugaboo, interceptions, as he found Solis on a 51-yard scoring play after the lowly Cardinals (0-1 in the City League, 1-5 overall) opened scoring with a 31-yard field goal in the first period.
After Garcia's punchover, putting the hosts ahead 14-3, junior Nick Goehler accurately placed a 22-yard field goal between the uprights, and the Vikings led at the end of the quarter, 17-3.
Then, in the second quarter, receiver Michael Wells gloved a 49-yard aerial from Scully for La Jolla's third TD on Faculty Appreciation Night, a new tradition.
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| Freshman Max Smith (background right), the team's long-snapper on Nick Goehler's kicks, collected six tackles in the 52-10 win, including five solo tackles. |
That was followed in short order by Johnathan O'Neal's 10-yard reception, the Vikings pulling away now with a 31-3 lead before Hoover could answer with its only TD, a run, of the night.
Scully then dialed in to the hard-working Tucker Jacobs for a 32-yard TD, before finding Solis again for 34 yards and the 35-point halftime lead.
A feel-good story was senior Kenny Hayden's taking his turn at quarterback after Carsten Fehlan completed one of four passes in relief of Scully. Hayden scored on a 19-yard run in the fourth quarter and completed a 13-yard pass during his stint to the end the game under the speed-up clock.
The lefty accumulated a total of 45 yards rushing on three carries. Kenny rehabbed a knee last summer after originally appearing to be in the quarterback sweepstakes for his final year at LJHS.
The Vikings, now 1-0 in the City League and 2-4 overall, gained their first win since an inspired 29-21 win at Country Day in week two, after three straight losses.
They next play host to Patrick Henry, which should present a solid challenge, on Friday the 13th.
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