THE BIG GAME / LA JOLLA 24, USDHS 20 : Victorious La Jolla Up to Its Old Tricks

The USDHS Dons might have to think twice the next time La Jolla invites them over for a football game. Those Vikings can’t be trusted. And Friday, La Jolla couldn’t be beaten, as the No. 5 Vikings held off the No. 4 Dons, 24-20, in front a near-capacity crowd of 3,900.

Host La Jolla (8-0) wooed USDHS all night by giving the Dons (7-1) turnovers, penalty yardage and great scoring opportunities. But everything the Vikings gave, they took away. They flattered the Dons, then humiliated them.

La Jolla also kept its biggest audience in more than a decade spellbound for 48 minutes before they moved into a first-place tie with Kearny (both are 2-0) in the Western League.

The Vikings, leading 3-0 in the second quarter, fumbled the ball at their seven-yard line then jumped offsides on defense to give USDHS first and goal at the three. Chris Lewis tip-toed in for the score on first down.

The Dons’ 7-3 lead lasted 19 seconds.

The Vikings ran a double reverse on the ensuing kickoff, which E.J. Watson took 90 yards for a touchdown. 10-7, La Jolla.

Watson, however, let USDHS back in the game in the third quarter. With La Jolla leading, 17-7, he fumbled at the Viking 48. Lewis, who finished with 215 yards on 24 carries, made it 17-14 with a 25-yard run.

La Jolla’s Alex Brown fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and the Vikings were pinned at their six. How nice, the Dons must have thought.

On first down, quarterback Andy Anello lobbed a play-action pass to Dehamil Aguilar, who raced 94 yards untouched. 24-14, Vikings.

“We figured they’d take the fake to the inside,” said Aguilar, who was 15 yards from the nearest defender. “I didn’t know I was going to be that wide open.”

“I thought the game would come down to a big play,” said La Jolla Coach Dick Huddleston. “We felt we could throw that time, just like we can every time in a running situation.”

When USDHS tried to do something big, the result was usually too small. Lewis got a huge hole and was streaking for an apparent score when free John Zuanich chased him down and dragged him to the turf by his shoulder pads. Two plays later, Lewis couldn’t score on fourth and two at the three.

But La Jolla fumbled the ball back to the Dons on first down. After recovering at the nine, USDHS made it 24-20 on a one-yard plunge by Lewis. Kicker Aaron Blair, who barely missed a 46-yard field goal in the first period, was wide right on the extra point.

“It was a war,” Lewis said. “They played better than us tonight.”

The Dons held Watson (21-149) to 59 yards in the first half and threw him for several losses, but his runs of 44 and 46 yards in the second half helped La Jolla keep two drives alive. It was trickery, however, that La Jolla needed to win. Like that trickery on the kickoff.

Aguilar received the kick and handed off to Anello, who looked like he was running a play from the line of scrimmage when he faked to fullback Brown then handed off to Watson, who raced the 90 yards.

“I knew they were going to bite on it, just by the way they come down,” Huddleston.

What really had to burn USDHS, the Vikings pulled the same play last year and it worked in a 24-23 La Jolla victory.