After two very different wins, Point Loma’s football team travels to La Jolla at 7 p.m. Friday to face the Vikings in one of the county’s longest-running rivalries.
La Jolla (1922) and Point Loma (1925) are the second and third oldest schools in the San Diego district and their football teams have been waging war for decades.
“The Shoe” was once a mighty perpetual trophy with a bronzed football shoe that disappeared while in Viking possession some 15-20 years ago. It has since been replaced by a spray-painted shoe mounted on a small plank of wood, but to the players it might as well be the Super Bowl trophy.
The Pointers won last year’s meeting 37-7 on Bennie Edens Field and the last thing current team members want to do is hand over “The Shoe” to the Vikings at La Jolla.
In their season opener, the Pointers destroyed once-powerful Leuzinger High at the Olympians’ field in Lawndale. Last year, Leuzinger was 11-2 but multiple players transferred and this year’s team was, in the words of a Pointer player, “Like a JV team.”
The final score, 65-0, came after playing a running clock in the second half when the Pointers
still scored 21 points.
The Pointers only ran 25 offensive plays in the game, scoring on six of them, two on runs by
quarterback Ryder Watson and two pass receptions by Tanner Spradling and one each by Graham Murdock and Ryan Cleator. They also had scores on two pick-sixes by Levi Evering and Blake Lingard, and a fumble recovery by Ethan Anderson.
Defensively Nick Lemus and Coltin Fannin each had eight tackles while there were six
tackles for loss and four sacks recorded. In last Friday’s home opener against Otay Ranch, the Pointers scored in the first minute of the game but had to hang on late as the Mustangs threatened to take the lead.
Before many fans got through the Chick-Fil-A concession line, Lingard took the opening
kickoff at his own 14-yard line and dashed through defenders for an 86-yard kickoff return,
giving the Pointers a 7-0 lead just 13 seconds into the game.
At inopportune times, the Pointer offense sputtered during the game, one drive ending with
a 45-yard field goal attempt by placekicker Cleator that had extra distance but was
wide by a narrow margin. The second Pointer touchdown came on a pass from Watson to Aiden Walsh. This time the holder mishandled the PAT snap and Cleator, attempting to run a two-point conversion, injured his leg when tackled.
The Pointers took their 13-0 lead into the second half, but the game became tense when
the Mustangs scored to move within 13-7.
The Mustangs appeared to be headed for a go-ahead touchdown. At one point, their
receiver Elijah Jordan grabbed a pass over the middle and broke free down the sideline
before a touchdown-saving tackle ended the 56-yard play. But the Mustangs were done-in
by penalties and errors.
When Pointer running back Isaiah Standley pushed through a pile of bodies into the end
zone midway through the fourth quarter the Pointers boosted the margin to 20-7 on a PAT
by backup kicker Josyah Orozco.
To say the Pointers “held on” from this point would be accurate – the offensive line was
whistled for several holding penalties late in the game but the Mustangs’ late score proved
too little, too late.
Pointers head coach Ryan Price was relieved after warning his players not to look past the
Mustangs after their big win at Leuzinger.
“The game was not as clean as we wanted it to be,” Price said. “We had some questionable
calls and missed executions all the way around. I was telling our guys all week not to take
them too lightly. They are a well-coached team. We did enough, but it’s not where we want
(our game) to be.”
Extra points
The Pointer JV is also 2-0 after winning against Coastal Academy (55-0) and Otay Ranch
(21-13). The freshman team is 2-0 after winning over Eastlake (20-0) and Otay Ranch (19-6).
After La Jolla, the Pointers trot home for games against Grossmont (Sept. 11) and
homecoming against Del Norte (Sept. 18).
