The La Jolla Country Day (LJCD) School football team heads into this week’s showdown with unbeaten Tri City Christian fresh off a 28-14 victory last weekend over Holtville High. With the loss of junior All-League OT/DT Junior Togiaso to a knee injury, LJCD (6-1) was at a significant size disadvantage. Despite this, the Torrey offense was economical enough to move the chains, gaining 358 yards (199 passing and 159 rushing). Leading the team was senior QB and team captain Derek Hatfield, who got it done both with his arm (10-for-17, 199 yards, one TD) and his legs (70 yards and two TDs on 16 carries). Senior TB Montell Allen was his usual physical self, pounding out 53 yards on 12 carries. Freshman TB Sage Burmeister chipped in with 25 yards on four carries, including a 4-yard TD scamper. Junior TE Mical Bailey (90 yards, one TD) and senior wide receiver Connor Gerhart (88 yards) both had fine receiving nights, each catching four passes. Allen, Bailey, Pena and senior defensive end Indie Lavarias led a Torrey D that played very tough against Holtville’s Winged T running attack. Allen led all tacklers with 14 tackles (eight solos), Bailey made nine tackles (four solos) and Pena and Lavarias made eight stops each. Senior LB Mac Kaland added a fumble recovery. On special teams, junior kicker Hunter Khaleghi made all four of his PATs on the night. LJCD will host Tri City Christian this Friday evening at 7 p.m. LJCD’s junior varsity team remained unbeaten (7-0) behind a 35-25 win at Holtville. Elsewhere, La Jolla High dropped a 21-6 decision to Serra High last Friday. “They (Serra) did a good job of defending our offense and we only recorded one touchdown,” La Jolla High head coach Rey Hernandez noted. “We did play better on defense and our top performance came from Andrew Hollyfield, who was in on 12 tackles.” La Jolla (3-4) will look to get back on the winning track when it hosts Mission Bay this Friday at home. “This is our biggest rival and we will have to contend with their standout quarterback Dillon Baxter (who has accepted a scholarship to USC),” Hernandez added. “It will be a very challenging game to say the least. They are undefeated and ranked in the top ten in the county.” Finally, The Bishop’s School (4-2) rolled to a 56-0 win over Rock High last weekend.
