In the annual battle for “The Shoe,” Point Loma’s football team almost went home barefoot. It was sophomore Morris Mathews, though, who packed the pigskin on a dramatic 53-yard fourth-quarter scoring run through the La Jolla Vikings’ defense with 5:19 left to keep the leather footwear in the Pointers’ trophy case for another year after booting the visitors 22-15. The Dogs trailed 15-14 in front of a home crowd after the pesky Vikings scored on a 17-yard third-quarter pass play. A 37-yard field goal attempt by Pointer Ruben Diaz that would have given his team a two-point lead with 8:33 remaining in the final frame sailed wide, setting the stage for Mathews. “The game was on the line and the seniors deserved it,” Mathews said later. “It felt so good, like I was in the NFL.” To their credit, however, the Vikings weren’t done. They drove to the Pointers’ eight yard line during the final two minutes, aided by three consecutive Dogs’ offside penalties. On a critical third down play, Pointer Zach Gemmill batted down a pass in the end zone before teammate Anthony Joyner intercepted a halfback option pass on fourth down to sink the Viking ship. “It’s always a competitive game with La Jolla,” said Pointer head coach Mike Hastings. “You can throw records out when you have a rivalry like this.” Earlier in the game, Pointer quarterback Keegan Fitzgerald had given his team leads of 7-0 and 14-6 with runs of 8 and 71 yards. The Vikings scored on a 35-yard pass play that came on a fourth-and-two situation, catching the Pointer defense by surprise. Gemmill blocked the extra point kick. And, with time expiring in the first half, La Jollan Braden Fudge drilled a 49-yard field goal, bringing his team to within 14-9 at the break. Ironically, Fudge had just missed a 54-yard attempt on which the Pointers were penalized five yards for roughing the kicker. “They have a very good coaching staff and their kids are really disciplined,” Hastings said, “but our kids came out in the end and found a way to win that game and I’m really proud of them.” On the afternoon, the Pointers rolled up 316 yards in offense, 279 of which came on the ground. Leslie Rogers led all runners with 13 carries for 94 yards. Fitzgerald added 11 carries for 88 yards, Mathews had 4 carries for 60 yards and Emilio Diaz ran 5 times for 32 yards. Fitzgerald’s passing totals included two completions in four attempts for 37 yards, targeting Davis Callejon (23 yards) and Mathews (14 yards). The Pointers used a “wildcat” formation (which they call “wild dog”) to snap the ball to quarterback Sean McKaveny, who pitched it to Fitzgerald, who in turn threw to Mathews. The win gave the Pointers a 7-3 mark for the regular season, good enough to be ranked the No. 3 seed in upcoming CIF Division III playoffs and earning a first-round bye. The top four teams in each division earned a week off, with Cathedral Catholic (9-1) and Ramona (8-2) seeded ahead of the Pointers and Serra (6-4) seeded fourth. The Pointers will use their bye week to recover from injuries and prepare for their quarterfinal opponent Nov. 27. The opponent will be the winner of the Hoover-Mount Miguel game. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at a site yet to be determined.