LJ FB 27, Valley Center 22 - CIF Division 2 Quarterfinals

By Ed Piper

"What is this?" A woman, maybe 40, just inside the open gate along Rushville St., was watching the end of the La Jolla-Valley Center playoff football game Fri., Nov. 12.

I explained it was the quarterfinal playoffs, the winner goes on, the loser goes home for the winter.

"I've never been to a Friday night high school football game," said the new fan, much to my amazement.

She said, "I heard the noise down the street, so I came to see what it was."

Within minutes, Dora (I'll give her a fictitious name) was fascinated--though from the back gate, the farthest point from La Jolla's end zone in the second half, it was a long way to discern what was happening.

La Jolla, leading 21-15 after the visiting Jaguars' field goal to open the fourth quarter. was trying to hang on to advance to the CIF Division 2 semifinals.

The conclusion became that much more of a cliffhanger when Viking quarterback Jackson Stratton, showing no reticence to keep the ball and run for yardage when necessary, went out after La Jolla's possession during the early part of the final stanza. He was holding his throwing arm with his opposite hand the same way he did back on Sept. 10 against Del Norte, when he suffered a fractured right scapula (shoulder blade).

"Who is in the red uniforms?" Dora inquired. I said the Vikings. "Oh, this is so exciting. Let's go, La Jolla!" she said.

Valley Center, who travels well with hundreds of fans in attendance, scored behind hustling junior QB Colton Paxton, 160-pound running back Lucas Sinohui, and 170-pound receiver Jake Dunckel. There was 1:30 on the scoreboard. Score 22-21 in favor of the Jags.

Kevin Steel (13), in a huddle during a timeout

before his clutch throw to receiver Makai Smith

for the win.

Kevin Steel had entered the game for the injured Stratton with 7:27 left in the fourth quarter. Steel, the backup quarterback, did a marvelous job during the month Jackson was out. Only, while Steel threw "with pinpoint accuracy" in the words of his QB coach, La Jolla's record dropped to 3-6, then 3-7 when Stratton came back two weeks ago against St. Augustine. Yet CIF seeded La Jolla fourth in an extremely favorable placement for the playoffs, figuring the Vikings would have done much better if Stratton hadn't been injured.

Dora talked to some students next to her. "Oh, his brother plays for the varsity. How could they go out to buy food (in La Jolla) during such an exciting game?" Dora asked. The brother had come back to see the tail end of the game.

The Vikings looked pretty small from that distance as they marched toward the southern end zone behind Steel. With 24.8 seconds left, Steel lofted a pass for Makai Smith, who grabbed it for a touchdown. The La Jolla crowd went crazy, Valley Center's suddenly silent. 27-22, La Jolla. The two-point conversion failed. Just get through these final 25 seconds...

LJ won by that score. The good with the bad. Stratton is likely out. The Vikings advance to the Division semifinals at Mira Mesa Fri., Nov. 19. "How do I buy a ticket to get in?" Dora asked. I forgot to tell her the higher seed hosts the game. The next game, as it turns out, will be hosted by Mira Mesa. Will someone please tell Dora?

LJ b water polo 9, Cathedral Catholic 14 - CIF Open semis 11/9

Vikings' Finn Bugelli (7) rises up for a

dominating goal in the second quarter

to bring La Jolla back within 7-5

of the CIF Open Division semifinals.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

La Jolla, down 6-1 after a terrible start, scored four goals in the second quarter to fight back within 7-5 on Finn Bugelli's dead-aim shot in front of the cage.

But it wasn't enough, as the Vikings, in a highly anticipated CIF Open semifinal water polo match before a large crowd at Coggan Pool, ultimately fell 14-9 to Cathedral Catholic Tues.. Nov. 9.

The winner goes on to face Bishop's in the Open Division championship game.

Bugelli, a junior, scored his third goal on the Vikings' first possession of the fourth quarter. But by then, La Jolla, in going down five goals at the start of the game, had given up too much ground and couldn't come back.

They closed to within four, at 12-8, with 3:53 left in the contest. Gavin Olson scored his first goal of the game. But the Vikings gave up two more goals and settled for the 14-9 result.

Senior Gavin Olson scores a late goal

to cap off an outstanding four-year

career playing for Coach Tom Atwell

at La Jolla High.

Kiefer Black (12) rises up for a shot attempt

in the second half against Cathedral's defense.

LJ xc: Viking girls win Eastern League Finals

The La Jolla High girls varsity starts out on the 3.11-mile

Morley Field course Tues., Nov. 9. They completed

their sweep of the Eastern League Finals, placing

1-2-10-11-12 to finish with 33 points.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Powered by super sophs Kyra Fisk and Daphne Mayer's 1-2 finish ahead of 34 other runners, La Jolla's girls swept the Eastern League cross country finals Tues., Nov. 9, on the 3.11-mile Morley Field course.

Fisk and Mayer, running buddies in practice, were just too much for the Eastern League this year. The 10th-graders, finally running free of the COVID restrictions that plagued so much of the 2020-2021 school year, ran times of 18:50.10 and 19:37.70, respectively, to lead the pack. Fisk just turned on the afterburners to win by over 45 seconds--that's a long way to drive in a Buick, as they say.

The La Jolla girls, with 33 points, easily out-distanced runner-up Our Lady of Peace, St. Augustine's sister school, with 47 points. (Low scores win in cross country.)

Placing in 10th, 11th, and 12th to secure the team win, Vikings Chloe Lund, a freshman, junior Scarlett Slagter, and Natalie Courtney, a senior, ran times of 21:01.40, 21:04.80, and 21:09.50, respectively, on the wending, even partially muddy course next to the Morley Field tennis courts.

Individual league champ Kyra Fisk, with no one else

in sight, runs through the trees later in the

3.11-mile Morley Field course to secure

first place and lead the Viking girls

to the Eastern League title.

Viking Daphne Mayer (no. 119) runs on

the winding path through trees late in the

Morley Field course. Mayer, who compiled

a phenomenal year, placed second among

36 runners at the league meet.

LJ g tennis - Aura Rosen et al - more CIF photos

By Ed Piper

Aura Rosen, singles, La Jolla

Karine Kulidjian, singles, La Jolla

LJ g tennis - CIF - Tatum into Round of 16 - 11/3

La Jolla's Tatum Buffington chases down a shot from

opponent Mackenzie Lukin of Sage Creek late in her

win that put her into the Round of 16 Wed., Nov. 3.

(Photos  by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

A new level of tennis was evident Wed., Nov. 3, when Tatum Buffington of La Jolla and other higher-seeded individuals entered the CIF Section playoffs at Balboa Tennis Club.

Buffington and her rival, Mackenzie Lukin of Sage Creek, stood on the back line and powered volley after volley to their foes in long exchanges.

Tate, as she is called, won out in that match. Taking a break and catching her breath before her next match the same afternoon, Buffington said, "Just a warmup" in reference to her match just completed over Lukin and her impending pairing against Amani Shah of Del Norte.

An hour later she was into her Round of 16 match against Shah. Shah won that in straight sets. Tate was seeded #9-16; Shah #3-4. The seedings proved true. Shah lost in the semifinals the next afternoon.

Alapi

Belinsky

LJ FB - Game recap vs. St. Augustine 10/29

By Ed Piper

This probably wasn't the way the La Jolla High coaches pictured this one coming out, in their most optimistic view.

Starting quarterback Jackson Stratton had been out since week 3, in a loss at Del Norte. Having seen him heal from a (lightly) fractured right scapula (back of the shoulder blade), insert him back into the lineup, and voila!--the Viking offense would resume running at high efficiency.

Plus, with any luck in the coin toss, elect to take the ball first, score first, and have the Vikings off and running against host St. Augustine, a winner of only one game coming in Fri., Oct. 29.

La Jolla did win the coin toss. Stratton, taking part in the pregame meeting with referees, did elect to take the ball first.

But then the Vikings didn't score on their first possession. St. Augustine, after their vast network of alumni tailgated in the parking lot at Mesa College pregame, played aroused and not like a team with only a single win against eight losses.

I asked Miles Scully, Justin's dad, what was the deal--why didn't La Jolla's dream scenario start playing out?

"Saints' line is much bigger."

Prominent in his massiveness on the right side of the offensive line for St. Augustine was 6'6" Misael Sandoval, who was listed at 317 pounds. Wow. Matt Blackburn, the Vikings' "little engine who could"--touted at a mere 260 pounds--looked starved in comparison.

That wasn't meant as an excuse. The Saints' size differential was real, and they were having an impact. The second straight week facing an outsized Catholic school line. Doesn't anyone think offering a Catholic private school education worth $20,000 is an inducement for a talented football player to enroll there?

The week before, Cathedral Catholic. Homecoming for CCHS then. Saints celebrated their Homecoming at halftime of the game Friday. A tailgater at St. Augustine's event remarked, "Does the scheduler have a sense of humor?" regarding the two straight weeks LJHS had to face the parochial schools.

After La Jolla scored its first touchdown on a Mason Powers strike from Stratton with 1:27 left in the first quarter, and a two-point conversion putting the Vikings in an 8-7 lead, La Jolla temporarily led.

Spence Carswell, on a botched hike on the conversion try, picked up the ball and ran it in, getting blasted at the goal line by a Saints defender. The Viking cheerleaders were already doing a cheer for the TD, lined up too close to the action. A cheerleader crumpled like a yarn doll like I have never seen before when Carswell, being tackled, crashed into her. She got up crying, maintaining that she wasn't hurt. It was a scary moment.

Powers made another nice grab of a Stratton pass in the back of the end zone to tie again, 15-15, with 7:40 left in the first half.

But a Vikings player and a Saints player both got kicked out for fighting moments later.

Going down 22-15 midway through the third quarter, as fog began to roll in to the Mesa College stadium, La Jolla struggled to stay in the game and fight back. An intercepted pass with 4:54 left in the third kind of cooked the Vikings' goose.

Jackson ran over on a keeper for a TD to close the gap--once again--to 22-21 with 6:12 left in the game. But that is where things stayed.

LJ xc: Final league cluster (4th) before league meet - 11/2 photos

Kyra Fisk (right), stellar runner for La Jolla,

exhales as she runs neck-and-neck with a rival

as she moves closer to the finish on the 3.11-mile

course at Morley Field to win Tues., Nov. 2.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

La Jolla's girls team tied perennial powerhouse Our Lady of Peace 36-36 in what was a thrilling three-second edge at the finish by Viking Kyra Fisk over OLP runner Winter Moritz, a fellow sophomore, in the final cluster grouping at Morley Field Tues., Nov. 2 under relatively cool skies.

The Morley course was laid out over 3.11 winding miles that included gravel, grass, hills, and a scenic tour under trees within Balboa Park in downtown San Diego.

Fisk, who has also spelled her first name "Kirra" this fall cross country season. ran neck-and-neck with her fellow front-running rival for much of the race, finally establishing the exactly-three-second advantage late in the race to take first place among 40 finishers from seven league schools participating.

The win for Coach Mandy Benham's squad was only possible again because of the strong finish among the top five runners for the girls. Daphne Mayer, who has been outstanding all season, as has been Fisk, placed fifth after another OLP runner. Fisk's winning time was 19:09.00. Mayer was recorded in 20:04.80.

LJHS freshman Chloe Lund placed 8th in 20:59.80, while teammate Scarlett Slagter clocked 21:06.60 right behind her for 9th place.

In their next Eastern League action, the Fall 2021 Vikings face off in the league championship finals Tues., Nov. 9 at Morley Field, before competing in the CIF San Diego Sectiion championships Sat., Nov. 20, also at Morley. Fisk would be a strong candidate in those races.

The fifth scorer for the Vikings was Natalie Courtney, a senior, in a time of 21:16.70.

In the boys varsity race, La Jolla finished fifth with 95 points.

Teammate Daphne Mayer (right), who has 

had a strong year, motors her way toward

fifth place in the Eastern League

Cluster #4 race Tues., Nov. 2.