Football Preview: Mission Viejo Diablos vs. Chaparral Pumas
The Mission Viejo Diablos will square off against the Chaparral Pumas at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are still undefeated (Mission Viejo has 13 wins dating back to last season, while Chaparral has four).
Mission Viejo's upcoming game probably won't be as stressful as their last, when they took on another nationally ranked opponent: Basha, who was ranked 55th at the time (Mission Viejo was ranked tenth). Mission Viejo had just enough and edged Basha out 31-28. The 31-point effort marked the Diablos' lowest-scoring match of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
Drai Trudeau had a dynamite game for Mission Viejo, throwing for 131 yards and four touchdowns. Another player making a difference was Davonte Curtis, who rushed for 98 yards.
Mission Viejo wouldn't let Basha keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Mission Viejo can thank Jeron Jones and Jaden Williams for forcing both of them. Williams is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made five or more in the last 21 games he's played dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, Chaparral never let their opponents score on Friday. They breezed by Great Oak on the road to the tune of 42-0. The Pumas might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won three matchups by 21 points or more this season.
A big part of Chaparral's win came down to the chemistry between Dane Weber and his top target Caden "CB" Butler. Weber threw for 224 yards and three touchdowns while completing 84.2% of his passes while Butler picked up 125 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Jayce Venable was another key player, rushing for 34 yards and two touchdowns.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Chaparral's defense and their five sacks. Shane Klingelberg was especially locked on to Great Oak's QB and sacked him 3.5 times. Klingelberg also set a new season high mark in total tackles with ten.
Mission Viejo pushed their record up to 5-0 with the victory, which was their sixth straight at home dating back to last season. As for Chaparral, their win bumped their record up to 4-0.
The upcoming contest will be a clash of competing strengths. Mission Viejo has relied on air attacks this season and has averaged 276.8 passing yards per game. Chaparral, on the other hand, has relied on a stout run game: they average 157 rushing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Mission Viejo took their victory against Chaparral in their previous matchup back in October of 2014 by a conclusive 31-11. In that game, Mission Viejo amassed a halftime lead of 24-3, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
