Week 14: La Jolla Vikings 15, Brawley Wildcats 14
Review
The Division III CIF Semifinal came down to the wire on a cold November evening. Brawley played their hearts out and put themselves in a great position to win. However, the Vikings from La Jolla never gave up and ending up winning with a rare football walkoff, 15-14.
The game started off with a bang as Makai Smith from La Jolla took the opening kickoff 91 yards to the house and put the Vikings up early 7-0. Brawley was able to answer back after their defense came up with a big turnover in plus territory. Quarterback Ethan Gutierrez faked the handoff and took the ball into the end zone from 15 yards out to tie the game at 7.
The second quarter went without a score from either side so both teams went into the half tied at 7. Much of the same happened in the third with both defenses remaining stout and the score remained 7-7 going into the fourth.
The Wildcats got the ball to start the fourth and reeled off a big play to gain momentum. Running back Damian Reyes took the handoff and broke off a 60 yard gain to put Brawley in the red zone. Brawley took advantage by handing the ball off to their big, bruising back Blake Krigbaum. He took it in from a yard out and this put the Wildcats up 14-7.
After a big sack on 4th and 6 gave Brawley the ball back with 3 minutes left it appeared the game was almost over. But La Jolla’s defense was able to come up with one more big stop and got the ball back to their offense with a minute left and zero timeouts.
Quarterback Jackson Stratton led his team down the field and on the last play of regulation he found his receiver Diego Solis. Solis broke a tackle and found a way to fight into the end zone and this brought the Vikings to within one point. They decided to go for two and the win and Stratton found Luke Cornette in the back of the end zone for the game winning 2 point conversion. La Jolla 15, Brawley 14.
La Jolla moves on to the Division III CIF Final where they will face Scripps Ranch at Southwestern College on November 30 at 1 PM. Tune in to the Prep Pigskin Report every Friday at 11 PM to get all the news and highlights from high school football all across San Diego. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter as well @RedJacketArmy.
