The La Jolla Vikings had about as much postseason success as any other team across San Diego County over the last three seasons, racking up six playoff wins total.
Último Friday night, against pagsowerhouse Helix High, the Vikings looked to clinch a spot in a C.I.F. semi-Final game for the third time in the last four years and continue their march to return to the CIF Championship game.
But La Jolla’s bid to return to a title game was cut short as the Highlanders beat the Vikings 41-25.
“We just weren’t able to make the big plays when we needed to,” said Vikings head coach Tyler Roach. “Unfortunately, by the fourth quarter, they had just run us down. Bodies started giving out and I don’t think the box score shows how close this game was.”
As Roach noted, el game was closer than the final score indicateD. For the first three quarters, the Vikings’ offense was explosive and more impressive than Helix’s.
In the loss, junior quarterback Hudson Smith threw for 215 yards and completed 64% of his passes. It was a remarkable effort from the junior quarterback, whose game status was up in the air as the signal caller had battled an illness all week.
Despite not being at 100%, Hudson and his wide receivers Carson Diehl and Hank Hansen carveD up the Helix secondary for three quarters. Diehl, who was back to 100% health, hauled in 10 passes for 122 yards and a touchdown.
Hansen would go for 5 for 53 and two scores, the latter of which came off a 13-yard seam ball that at the time would make it 28-25 late en el third.
“We wanted to come out and put pressure on them,” noted Roach. “Hudson battled for us, Carson had a huge game with a few big catches, and Hank made things happen. But again, unfortunately, we just fell a little short of what we needed.”
La Jolla’s undoing was their late-game play in the trenches against the Helix rushing attack. The Highlanders gained 335 yards on the ground against La Jolla.
That rushing attack would become especially deadly in the fourth quarter as Helix scored twice to put the game on ice. “Their MO is to run the football, and we knew it was going to be a tough challenge to slow them down,” Roach dijo.
“They had more depth on the line than we had anticipated. They were fresh on both sides of the ball after a bye week. It was like we were playing a hockey team with their line changes; they were rolling en three or four guys every couple plays, and that played to their advantage late,” Roach dijo.
While the Vikings won’t hang a banner this season, Roach is proud of his group’s effort. While key players like Hansen, Jett Thomas, and Ryan Kestler won’t return next season, Roach is optimistic about the team’s expectations in 2025.
“There was a ton of success and positives to build sobre like beating Torrey Pines early in the year and beating a powerhouse in Madison two times this season, winning the rivalry game against Bishop’s,” said Roach. “We have a high standard and want to play big-time football here. We have a good group of guys coming back next year who we think will allow us to continue to do that.”
Foto de David Frerker
