Football centennial: LJHS drops Christian
- Updated: October 28, 2023
2023 EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL
ECS staff report
EL CAJON – Although the school is older, this season marks the centennial of La Jolla High football.
Over the previous 99 seasons, the Vikings played two games in the East County in a single season just twice. The first came in 1953 *at Helix and Grossmont) the other excursion came in 2014, only because the second game came in the playoffs.
On Saturday (Oct. 28), La Jolla completed its second trip to the region by whipping host Christian, 49-19, in Eastern League action at Valley Stadium. The day’s lone contest marked the conclusion of the CIF San Diego Section regular season.
It was a sort of revenge win for the Vikes (8-2 overall, 4-0 league), which led El Capitan, 21-0, before the quarterback was inured to allow the Vaqueros to roar back for a 28-24 victory. The ballgame with Christian also allowed LJHS to clinch the league championship.
Meanwhile, the Patriots finish at 4-6 overall, going winless in league competition for only the second time this century (2010), and just the sixth last-place finish in school history (since 1971).
On the game’s opening possession, the La Jolla air attack found the end zone less than four minutes into the contest. The Vikings then out-scored Christian 21-13 in the second period to lead by three scores at the half, 28-13.
However, Christian played even for a while.
The Patriots opened the second quarter on a 28-yard TD pass by senior Peter Zacharzuk, connecting with freshman Kai Rosier. Unfortunately, the missed conversion left the Patriots trailing throughout.
La Jolla answered with a pair of TDs over the next four minutes, but Christian answered with the biggest play of the night when running back junior Brady Eads found a seam and rumbled coast-to-coast for a 90-yard score.
Christian capped the scoring on another Zacharzuk pass, finding senior Dylan Eads from 25-yards out.
La Jolla now leads the series, 11-4, avenging last season’s Patriots victory, 20-14, at Gene Edwards Field at Scripps Field stadium.
— Compiled by Nick Pellegrino
Summary
VIKINGS 49, PATRIOTS 19 La Jolla (8-2, 4-0) 7 21 7 14 - 49 Christian (4-6, 0-4) 0 13 0 6 - 19
