High school football: La Jolla High can’t hold big lead and falls to El Capitan; QB injured

La Jolla High School’s chances to stay unbeaten in the young football season looked good in the first half of Week 3, but it was downhill from there as the Vikings lost the game and senior starting quarterback Jackson Diehl for the second half.

The Bishop’s School also suffered a tough loss, while La Jolla Country Day School had a wet but successful trip to Nevada.

El Capitan 27, La Jolla High 24

La Jolla jumped out to an early 21-0 lead in the battle of undefeated teams at El Capitan of Lakeside on Sept. 1.

But the Vaqueros (3-0) pulled off a comeback to win 27-24 over the Vikings (2-1).

After scoring on a 45-yard touchdown pass from Brandt Barker to Chance Lachappa on fourth and nine, El Capitan blocked a Vikings punt with 4:18 remaining in the game, setting up the winning 4-yard touchdown run by Julian May.

The Vikings led 24-14 at halftime but were unable to score after Diehl left the game with a right ankle injury in the second quarter. Sophomore quarterback Hudson Smith played the second half.

Before the injury, Diehl threw touchdown passes to Kai Fukuda and Hank Hansen and ran 54 yards for another score.

The Vikings rolled up 425 yards total offense.

Next up for La Jolla is a home match-up against Rancho Bernardo (2-1) at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8.

La Jolla Country Day 34, Lake Mead Academy 21

The La Jolla Country Day Torreys visited Lake Mead Academy of Henderson, Nev., and came away with the victory on a rain-soaked field Sept. 1.

The Torreys rushed for four touchdowns in opening a 28-0 lead and cruised to the win.

Country Day, which won its second consecutive game to improve to 2-1, next plays at home against Coronado (1-2) at 7 p.m. Sept. 8.

Bishop Diego 33, Bishop’s 30

The Bishop’s School fell to 0-3 with a home loss to Bishop Diego of Santa Barbara on Sept. 1 on the La Jolla High School field.

Quarterback Cash Herrera’s 36-yard touchdown pass to Ian Browne gave the Knights a late lead in a back-and-forth fourth quarter, but lineman Mays Pese’s 1-yard TD run in the final seconds gave the Cardinals the victory.

Bishop’s next game will be at Mount Miguel of Spring Valley at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15. ◆