Football Preview: Santa Maria Saints vs. McLane Highlanders
The Santa Maria Saints will head out on the road to square off against the McLane Highlanders at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.
Santa Maria's defense heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They claimed a resounding 44-0 victory over Del Oro at home. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Saints.
Michael Herrera-Chavez was nothing short of spectacular: he rushed for 185 yards and five touchdowns on only 13 carries. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 2.7 rushing touchdowns per game. Backing up that air attack was Juan Belmontes, who rushed for 122 yards and a rushing touchdown.
Belmontes wasn't the only one working in the rushing yards department: Santa Maria was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 374 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since was before the start of last season.
Santa Maria'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 Andy Velazquez and Adrian Pasos.
Meanwhile, McLane was fully in charge on Friday, breezing past Mendota 48-21 on the road.
Noah Zamora was a one-man wrecking crew for McLane as he threw for 321 yards and four touchdowns while completing 71.4% of his passes, and also rushed for 97 yards and a touchdown. Julyen Scott was Zamora's top target, picking up 92 receiving yards and a touchdown.
McLane wouldn't let Mendota keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force four fumbles. It was truly a group effort as Juan Raygoza, Da'Zir Newhouse, and Sergio Jacuinde picked up one apiece. Newhouse also deserves a shoutout for his performance on D, forcing a fumble, making nine total tackles, and defending a pass.
Santa Maria's win was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 2-1. As for McLane, their record is now 2-0.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
