The La Jolla Vikings (2-1) limited the San Diego Cavers (0-2) to 79 yards of total offense and the defense pitched a 41-0 shutout in La Jolla’s annual Blast-Off football game at Gene Edwards Stadium last Friday, Sept. 19. The Vikings got on the scoreboard first on their opening drive of the ballgame when senior running back Robbie Beathard (8 carries, 171 yards, 2 TDs) struck the end zone like a bolt of lightning on a 27-yard touchdown run with 8:14 left in the first quarter to give La Jolla an early 7-0 lead. “I was just running, hoping and trying to find my way to the end zone,” Beathard said. One thing the Vikings wouldn’t have any trouble finding on this night was the end zone. In fact, La Jolla would pay another visit to pay dirt on their very next possession, as senior running back Victor Rangel (8 carries, 138 yards, 3 TDs) struck gold on a 7-yard touchdown run. The drive itself covered 63 yards and featured back-to-back runs of 38 and 16 yards, respectively, by Beathard. That extended the Viking edge to 14-0 with 3:45 remaining in the first period. “San Diego’s a good tackling team,” Beathard said. “It’s hard to make them miss their tackles. You do what you can and then sometimes you get stopped.” Beathard was being too humble. If anything, he, Rangel and La Jolla in general all showed that they couldn’t be stopped by the Caver defense. The Vikings proved it once again when they scored on their third straight possession to open the game. Senior quarterback Henry Nawahine hooked up with Beathard on a 15-yard bullet pass to set up a 15-yard touchdown run by Rangel to advance the La Jolla advantage to 21-0 with 1:39 left in the first stanza. “We’re a running team that passes every now and then,” Beathard said. “But running the ball is what we do best. It’s nice when we can run our offense. If we can run the ball like that, we’ll keep on running it.” The Viking offense kept San Diego running all the way to the locker room, down by 21 points at the halftime intermission. After the two teams headed back onto the field, it was more of the same as the Vikings repeated their first-quarter performance by once again scoring on their first three drives of a half, this time in the third quarter. “Our offensive line set the pace,” Beathard said. “They deserve all of the credit.” Zach Zlatic deserved most of the credit on the second Viking possession of the third period.  The junior quarterback began the La Jolla drive with a 14-yard run for a first down and finished it by finding senior wide receiver Joshua Rothman in the end zone on a touchdown pass from 27 yards out. That Viking drive was sandwiched between a 7-yard touchdown run by Beathard and a 47-yarder by Rangel, and pretty much sealed the victory for La Jolla. “This was huge,” Beathard said. “Winning gives you so much momentum in a positive direction.”