VIKINGS BLAST-OFF OVER UC CENTURIONS TO START SEASON

BY ROB STONE
LA JOLLA (CA) VILLAGE NEWS
SEPTEMBER 20, 2007

The University City (UC) Centurions (2-1) suffered another tough loss to the La Jolla Vikings (2-1), 42-14, in a non-league football game at La Jolla’s annual Blast-Off on Friday, Sept. 14. The Vikings haven’t lost to UC since 1992.

“Coming into the contest, we felt that the Centurions were a pretty good football team,” La Jolla coach Dave Ponsford said. “We took advantage of a few mistakes and jumped on some opportunities.”

The Vikings did indeed jump out to an early lead behind the play of Jerrell Agnew. The senior running back scored from both 3 and 12 yards out to give La Jolla a 14-0 first quarter edge.

“Some strange turn of events kind of worked against UC,” Ponsford said.

Such as when Viking junior linebacker Henry Nawahine fell on a fumble in the end zone with 3:34 left in the first quarter to extend the La Jolla lead to 21-0.

“That play was basically set up because of our special teams,” Ponsford said. “We punted deep into Centurion territory, so we didn’t have to travel very far for that touchdown.”

Agnew didn’t have to travel all that far, either, on a 13-yard run for the Vikings next touchdown that made the score 28-0 just eight seconds into the second quarter.

“I think that may have put UC in a hole,” Ponsford said.

With 1:37 remaining in the second quarter, Cassius Mathius attempted to dig the Centurions out. The senior defensive back returned an interception 90 yards for a touchdown to cut the gap to 28-6.

“We thought it was going to be closer than it was,” Ponsford said. “But, we had some things go our way.”

Like having Agnew answer Mathius’ return with an 85-yard kickoff return of his own just 19 seconds later to pad the La Jolla cushion to 35-6 heading into the locker room at halftime.

After the intermission, it was more of the same as the Vikings continued to sail along. With 10:16 left to play in the fourth quarter, senior quarterback Matt Mulvey called his own number from one yard away as La Jolla moved out to a 42-6 advantage.

“Right now, my challenge is to make sure that we keep working hard,” Centurion coach Patrick Coleman said. “I use a lot of examples in practice about how players like LaDanian Tomlinson and Jerry Rice always strive to get better.”

If it’s any consolation to Coleman, UC did show signs of improvement as the game went on, which is more than can be said for the effort put forth by Tomlinson and the San Diego Chargers during their trip to see the New England Patriots last Sunday.

With 5:15 remaining in the fourth quarter, junior quarterback Skyler Dougherty delivered a 24-yard touchdown to junior running back Andrew Swasey and a 2-point conversion to senior wide receiver Genaro Ramirez to finish the scoring. In addition to his four touchdowns, Agnew led the Viking ground attack (20 carries, 135 yards), while junior kicker Lee Abelkop was a perfect six for six (career-high) on PAT’s.