The end of the regular season for the La Jolla ended on a bit of a sour note. Losers of two straight to end the year, the Vikings finished with a 6-4 record, but they missed out on a first-round bye when the CIF Div. II brackets were announced last Saturday.

In Friday night’s CIF Div. II first-round matchup, La Jolla looked more like the team many had watched for the bulk of this season as they defeated the Madison Warhawks 27-15 to advance to the CIF quarterfinals.

“I think after losing our last two to close out our season on a bit of a down note, I thought not getting a bye was a bit of a blessing,” said La Jolla head coach Tyler Roach. “We needed a game and some confidence to get our swagger back.”

The Vikings have battled injuries all season and have seen several key players miss time at various points.

One of those injured stars, Carson Diehl, would make his return against Madison and make an impact immediately, hauling in a 31-yard touchdown pass from Hudson Smith to give La Jolla an early 7-0 advantage.

“Having Carson on the field makes a huge difference,” Roach said. “He’s a guy defenses have to account for in multiple ways. With him on the field, teams have to decide if they want to single him up or roll coverage his way. Having him back, we have a perimeter guy that can take the top off a secondary and be a matchup nightmare.”

After Diehl’s opening score, the La Jolla offense would go stagnant for the next two quarters, and find themselves trailing the WarHawks 15-13 heading to the fourth quarter. But the Vikings found a rhythm and scored 14 unanswered points to pull away from Madison.

The Vikings’ biggest play was Hank Hansen’s 48-yard catch and run for a score to put La Jolla ahead 20-15 with 9:50 to play.

To seal the victory, junior defensive end Dylan Haugum grabbed a red zone interception with under three minutes to play. The INT would cap off what was a solid night for the Vikings’ defense, which held Madison to under 250 yards of total offense.

“Building off Friday’s win is going to be big,” Roach said. “We can’t be complacent. We got things back on track, played our football brand, and our guys were fast and flying all over the place.”

With the first-round win, La Jolla advanced to play No. 3-seeded Helix High. While Helix had a down year by its program’s standards, Roach knows his Vikings will need to be at the top of their game to take down the Highlanders.

“Helix always has the brand of football they want to play. We’re going to need Hudson to play another sound game, take what the defense is giving him, and when the matchups present themselves, go attack,” said Roach

Kickoff between La Jolla and Helix will be at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 15, at Helix High School.

Photo by David Frerker