LJ FB: Stats vs. Scripps Ranch

Official Statistics

La Jolla High 51, Scripps Ranch 52

Non-league

Fri., Aug. 27, 2021

Passing

Jackson Stratton   20 for 37, 470 yards; 7 TD's; 1 interception; long = 72 yards

Scripps Ranch   31 for 49, 358 yards; 4 TD's; 0 interceptions; long = 68 yards

Receiving

Mason Powers   7 receptions - 196 yards; 3 TD's; long = 58 yards

Makai Smith   5 receptions - 131 yards; 2 TD's; long = 72 yards

Ryan Weinberg   2 receptions - 62 yards; 1 TD; long = 55 yards

Spence Carswell   2 receptions - 39 yards; 1 TD; long = 20 yards

Austin Bale   3 receptions - 24 yards; long = 11 yards

Justin Scully   1 reception - 18 yards

SRHS   31 receptions - 358 yards; 4 TD's; long = 68 yards

Rushing

Jackson Stratton   4 carries - 27 yards; long = 22 yards

Justin Scully   4 carries - 21 yards; long = 12 yards

Makai Smith   2 carries - 6 yards; long = 4 yards

Austin Bale   2 carries - 4 yards; long = 3 yards

Rest of team   6 carries - 61 yards; long = 28 yards

LJ FB: Game recap 8/27

Viking receiver Mason Powers goes

airborne to snag a 19-yard pass from

QB Jackson Stratton on 2nd-and-10.

The reception led to Powers' TD

with 8:39 left in the third quarter,

the Vikings cutting their deficit

to 52-43.

By Ed Piper

La Jolla's vaunted offense, led by quarterback Jackson Stratton, staged a dramatic second half comeback from 25 points down to visiting Scripps Ranch Fri., Aug. 27.

But the comeback fell one point short, the Vikings' last gasp dying with 1:43 left when the Falcons dodged a bullet as determined mini-back Jalen Shaw (a slender 170 pounds) achieved a first down on 3rd-and-one to insert the final dagger. Scripps Ranch prevailed, 52-51.

The night was a remarkable display of offensive weapons dealt out by opposing 6'4" (Stratton) and 6'6" (Scripps' junior Jax Leatherwood) quarterbacks towering over their respective teammates at Edwards Stadium in La Jolla. The large crowds for both sides were in for a treat.

In the near-comeback by the hosts, Viking receiver Mason Powers, building on his performance the week before against overmatched Bishop's, showed he was king of dexterity and acrobatics as he pulled down two key touchdown receptions from Stratton for at 52-35 and 52-43.

Another Powers catch, tacked on to his TD with 1:24 left in the third quarter, scored two points as LJ Coach Tyler Roach madly tried to bring his team back from key missed and blocked PAT kicks earlier in the game--the Vikings' chief bugaboo on the close game.

With 2:44 remaining in the game, La Jolla down by nine, Stratton found receiver Spence Carswell in the southern end zone from 20 yards out. Jackson then ran the ball in for two points on the conversion. The Vikings trailed by one.

But Scripps and Coach Marlon Gardinera were able to run the clock out, keeping the ball on the ground. La Jolla's hopes ended with the late first down by Shaw.

LJ Cheer: 8/27 football game vs. Scripps Ranch

By Ed Piper

Mady Lucero

Senior

Krista Morales

Senior

Bella Rose Uhrig

Sophomore

Gia Renteria

Junior

Lisa Glynne

Senior

Mikayla Guerrero

Sophomore

Lala Olson

Sophomore

Lily Hurtado

Sophomore

Jada Torres

Senior

Kaylin Kammerer

Freshman

Camila Alvarez

Senior

Paige Zuckerman

Junior

Lauren Kelly

Junior

Isabella Ramirez

Junior

Emma Rendon

Senior

LJ FB 51, Scripps Ranch 52 - Photos

By Ed Piper

LJ Cheer: Football game vs. Bishop's, 8/20

Photos by Ed Piper

LJ FB: Powers shows superpowers

Viking end Mason Powers (9) collects

goodies from Mom through the fence

at El Capitan High Aug. 13 before

LJHS's scrimmage against Valhalla.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

La Jolla's football season opener Fri., August 20 was receiver Mason Powers' breakout party.

Powers and his fellow receiving corpsmen, Ryan Weinberg and Austin Bale, combined for 16 receptions from quarterback Jackson Stratton, good for 291 yards and four touchdowns.

Powers, himself, grabbed seven passes totaling 99 yards. Within the first minute and a half of the game, La Jolla's offense quickly lining up on 3rd-and10, Stratton found Mason with a pass from 18 yards out for the Vikings' initial score. The time on the clock: 10:31.

LJHS went on to score five more times from scrimmage.

That occasion wasn't the "quick hands" man's first reception of the night. Earlier in the short drive beginning on their own 38-yard line, on a 2nd-and-15, Jackson connected with his senior classmate to the left for eight yards.

Mason, a senior, has waited a long time for this. On the freshman team three years ago, long before COVID entered our vocabulary, he combined with Stratton as "boy wonders" on that squad to put up big offensive numbers.

But the next year, 2019, the numbers didn't totally translate over for Powers in the move up to varsity, despite the desire, despite the ambition, despite all his dedicated practice efforts.

Then, in Fall 2020, COVID threw a wet blanket over everybody's ambitions, and a shortened, five-game season this Spring had to take the place of a cancelled full schedule. La Jolla's football team, under Coach Tyler Roach, continued its climb after the Eastern League title, the CIF title, and the Southern California regional title of 2019.

No one blamed Powers, in the midst of the Max Smith-led juggernaut that Viking football had become. But the numbers weren't quite there.

So the 2021 Fall opener against crosstown rival Bishop's, a former "machine" with Ty Buchner at quarterback reduced to a whimper, meant that much more.

And Powers had to be celebrating Friday night, as he was targeted frequently in the mix of quick hands that Stratton was throwing to against the Knights. And he made good on his opportunities.

Asked the week before, prior to the scrimmage against Valhalla in an event held at El Capitan High, who the "good hands" people were on the team, Defensive Coordinator Stephen Dixon immediately named Mason. "And I'm not even involved with the offense," Dixon said. The platoon Powers shined in during the season opener.

LJ FB 42, Bishop's 3 - Week #1

Captains from the rival LJ schools watch the coin

flip. Bishop's won, deferred, and La Jolla High

got the ball first. (Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

La Jolla High quarterback Jackson Stratton had his hand in five touchdowns, and the Vikings rolled to a smashing 42-3 season-opening win over Bishop's Fri., Aug. 20.

Stratton, a senior who is a commit to the University of Washington next year, threw for four TD's and added a rushing touchdown to his arsenal.

A running clock was used in the second half, after Coach Tyler Roach's squad rang up a 35-3 halftime lead. Admission was charged for the first time since the 2019 season two years ago, following a shortened Spring 2021 season under COVID restrictions.

A large crowd on both sides witnessed a reversal of previous Bishop's-La Jolla results. As Stratton picked apart a rebuilding Knight defense, targeting receivers Makai Smith, Mason Powers, and Ryan Weinberg, among others, the Vikings avenged previous defeats on their own field in the crosstown rivalry (Bishop's shares the facilities). Stratton was still leading the offense in the fourth quarter, even with the lopsided score.

Viking QB Jackson Stratton gets

miked up for the game with a mobile

transmitter for KUSI PPR just before

the opening kickoff.

The Vikings' incessant march to the goal line, "El Dorado", went something like this:

Powers took the Stratton pass from the Bishop's 18-yard line for the first score. The kick was blocked.

After the Knights punted--a horrible kick, frankly--La Jolla took over on their own 35, and behind Justin Scully's quick scamper to the LJ 39, 26 yards ahead, the Vikings likewise had to call on Spence Carswell to punt the ball.

The long snap went over Carswell's head. He chased it down, and without hesitating booted it down the 

field. Fortunately for the home team, the ball went end-over-end quite a distance before Bishop's took over again. You couldn't have asked for a better roll.

After 3rd-and-out for the other side, Weinberg captured a nice little drop pass and went in from two yards out. Colin Levinson's run in for the extra points made it 14-0. Now La Jolla could settle into a little roll.

The drive got considerable help from Makai Smith, who ran out to the left for 19 yards on a 1st-and 35. Before that, Stratton--with his long hair looking like a star actor in "Jesus Christ Superstar"--kept the ball and ran 20 yards, starting on the La Jolla 45.

The Vikings' third score came as the first quarter ran out, for a 21-0 lead. Stratton carried. That followed his long connector with receiver Austin Bale on 2nd-and-10. The quick drive began on Makai's reception. Roach went nuts on the sideline over the senior's comportment on that one.

Bishop's QB Will Fierro

had an uphill battle

all night, but he didn't

give up.

Will Fierro's intensive efforts at quarterback on the other side made you feel for him. He was doing what he could to move the ball in the air and on the ground, but the visitors were way out-manned in this contest.

The second quarter was more of the same by La Jolla, who apparently had not forgotten sizeable defeats at the hands of the Knights in recent years. Scully rambled for 16 yards for 28-0. Bale took a TD pass this time from Stratton from 10 yards out. And finally Carswell, who played a receiving and kicking role in a scrimmage against Valhalla the previous week, booted a 37-yard field goal, and the Vikings went out at halftime with an unrelenting 35-3 lead.

Austin Bale added another TD reception, this one covering 23 yards from QB Stratton, in the third quarter and Carswell was perfect on the kick.

The numbers for LJ's offense:

Stratton - 22 for 38 passing, 364 yards total; 4 TD's; long of 72 yards

Scully - 8 carries for 51 yards; 1 TD; long of 20 yards

Stratton - 8 rushes for 15 yards; 1 TD; long of 11 yards

Bale - 1 carry for 1 yard

Powers - 7 catches for 99 yards; 1 TD; long of 32 yards

Weinberg - 4 catches for 97 yards; 1 TD; long of 72 yards

Bale - 5 catches for 95 yards; 2 TD's; long of 43 yards

Smith - 5 catches for 59 yards; long of 18 yards

Carswell - 1 catch for 14 yards