Football Preview: Yorba Linda Mustangs vs. Villa Park Spartans
Yorba Linda has been on the road for two straight, but on Thursday they'll finally head home. They will host the Villa Park Spartans at 7:00 p.m. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Yorba Linda's offense will try to repeat the strong performance it gave last Saturday, when they got past Tustin's usually-dominant defense. Yorba Linda secured a 35-31 W over Tustin.
Holden Nagin was the offensive standout of the match as he threw for 237 yards and two touchdowns while completing 76.5% of his passes, and also rushed for 42 yards.
Yorba Linda's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Owen Smith and Bryson French.
Meanwhile, Villa Park had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 27.3 points) and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. Their defense stepped up to hand the Mustangs an 18-0 shutout.
The critical scores for Villa Park came from Dominic Ancich and Luvie Clark.
One reason for the win was Villa Park's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for three sacks. Leading the way was Owen Aguilar with two.
Yorba Linda's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 4-1. As for Villa Park, their win bumped their record up to an identical 4-1.
Thursday's game might be decided in the on the ground. Yorba Linda has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 211.8 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Villa Park struggles in that department as they've been averaging 167.6. It's looking like Thursday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Yorba Linda and Villa Park were neck-and-neck in their previous matchup back in October of 2023, but Yorba Linda came up empty-handed after a 34-33 defeat. Will Yorba Linda have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
