LJ rugby 'Scrum Down' 12/17

A good run by Viking back (with ball) before

being tackled by two San Marcos Knights

in the nightcap. (Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

For a neophyte rugby sportswriter, it was a night of merely watching, being in the environment, and learning what the heck rugby is.

Referee Jeff Nolan recommended, "Go watch 'Rugby for Dummies' on Youtube," and that will get me up to speed.

This reporter hasn't done that yet, what with getting inside after the chilly 50-degree night and recovering overnight with a restful sleep and visions of lineouts (in which two teammates lift a third into the air to try to snag a throw-in from the sideline) and scrums (both teams go shoulder-to-shoulder after a legal tackle and one team pushes the odd-shaped ball out the back for a running back to carry it).

Behold, Ethan Willis and Ian Denham oversaw another edition of "rugby incubator", in which they are actively teaching basic rugby formations and techniques to new and newer recruits who are still learning the game--as the Vikings are warming up, preparing for the game. It's a live test-tube experience for a spectator, watching newbies alongside veterans Wyn Smoole and his brother, Leed Smoole, get training and instruction in fundamental moves they'll try to carry out during the game.

Real games start in January.

Late in the Vikings' second game, back Kellen

Tinsley (4) attempts a pass in a lineout

by the Vikings near the far sideline.

Viking rugby: Round-robin Sat., 12/17

By Ed Piper

The '22-'23 Viking rugby'ers run into the Carlsbad JV's, then an hour later San Marcos in the first action of the new season Sat., Dec. 17 at Edwards Stadium.

Ethan Willis's unhelmeted crushers clash with the Carlsbad contingent at 4:30 p.m. Then, in the Vikings' main event of the early evening, as the darkness deepens, they confront San Marcos at 5:50 p.m.

The LJ-Carlsbad JV match is scheduled for two 15-minute halves. Then the pure-varsity match-up against San Marcos, likewise, will play out over a pair of 15-minute periods.

LJ wrestling 57, Madison 18

Photos by Ed Piper

Daniel Pena (top) gets the ball rolling with the first pin

of the day on the way to the Vikings' 57-18 win.

Senior Charlie Long (152 pounds) follows that

by making his opponent submit. Here Long tries

a move that forces his opponent (in blue) on his back

with Charlie enveloping him in a dominant hold.

Gus Rinaldi (160, red singlet) pinned his opponent

to make the LJ advantage 48-6 (largely on forfeits,

in addition to pins).

LJ g water polo 20, Scripps Ranch 0

Photos by Ed Piper

Stella Tezcan (12)

Sophia Soltero (10) defending

Michelle Ballesteros (6) moving the ball up-pool

Kaylin Kammerer (5) vying for the dropball

Junior Tayler Stewart (9) in action

Katy Westphal (7) and Stewart totally dominate

the Falcons' 2-meter player (submerged

under Westphal)

Soph Daria Tvrdisic (11) gets off a shot.

LJ head coach Amy Jennings (far left)

Goalie Lucia Vega (1)

LJ g soccer 1, Temescal Canyon 0 - Late in first half - Tournament game 12/13

Photos by Ed Piper

LJ b soccer 0, Bishop's 5 - Photos 12/12

Photos by Ed Piper

LJ wrestling: Charles Long 4th at Mira Mesa tourney

Big Hayden Worst. wrestling at 184 pounds,

pinned Jose Escamilla of El Camino

in 3:21 in the second round.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Charles Long, a Viking wrestling at 152 pounds, pinned four opponents--two in the championship bracket, two more in the consolation bracket--to fight his way to a fourth-place finish in the 36th Annual Marauder Invitational at Mira Mesa High Sat., Dec. 10.

Long's total pin time amounted to eight minutes, 46 seconds to vanquish his four 152-pound victims. His quickest pin on the day was a mere 29 seconds, in his first match of the day against Joshua McClain of Morse High. He had another pin, technically called a fall in wrestling lingo, of 1:25 in the consolation bracket of Max Carrizales of Canyon Hills High.

The La Jolla senior had to fight his way up the consolation bracket after losing by a pin in his third (quarterfinal) match of the day.

Long was the only Viking to place in the major annual tournament, in which 23 entrants competed in the 152-pound weight class. Thirty schools took 305 team members to the school on Reagan Road.

Vikings Noah Pace (106 pounds), Abraham Sierra (126), and Gustav Rinaldi (170) all achieved seven team points each toward La Jolla's total of 52 points for 15th, in the middle of the pack. Senior Caden Kestler scored six points.

Pace, after taking a fall in his first match in the morning, came back in the consolation round to quickly pin two straight opponents, Ruben Butler of Canyon Hills and Cameron McDonald of Santana, in 15 and 11 seconds, respectively.

To the all-day tournament, head coach Kellen Delaney took 11 wrestlers, all boys, spread out across 10 of the 14 weight divisions.

The Mira Mesa tournament followed on the Viking team's 46-31 dual-meet victory over visiting Cathedral Catholic Wed., Dec. 7, and was their second "traditional" tourney of the young season--coming just before the winter break after this Wednesday's dual meet at Madison High. (Rancho Bernardo High held a takedown competition last weekend that only required a wrestler to achieve five takedowns to advance.)

Anthony Volkov (145) gets his hand

raised after defeating Levi Clair

of St. Augustine, 8-0, in his

second match of the day.

Volkov, a junior, gets feedback from

head coach Kellen Delaney right after

the 8-0 win at 145 pounds.