Football Preview: Rio Mesa Spartans vs. Santa Barbara Dons
Two dominant signal callers in JJ Bittner and Laird Finkel are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Rio Mesa Spartans will be playing in front of their home fans against the Santa Barbara Dons at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Rio Mesa is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 31.2 points per game this season.
Rio Mesa and Westlake met for a duel on Saturday where Rio Mesa came out on top. Rio Mesa enjoyed a cozy 37-20 victory over Westlake. Given the Spartans' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 165th, while the Warriors are ranked 342nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Rio Mesa had a senior duo take command as Bittner threw for 169 yards and two touchdowns while completing 80% of his passes and Isaiah Bautista rushed for 127 yards and a touchdown. Those 127 rushing yards gave Bautista a new career-high.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Rio Mesa was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 269 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 193 rushing yards in six consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Santa Barbara entered their match against Newbury Park on Saturday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. Santa Barbara was outmatched by Newbury Park at home and fell 35-6. It was the first time this season that the Dons let down their fans at home.
Rio Mesa's win bumped their record up to 4-2. As for Santa Barbara, their defeat was their first of the season and makes their record 4-1-1.
Rio Mesa might still be hurting after the 30-10 loss they got from Santa Barbara in their previous matchup back in September of 2023. Can Rio Mesa avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
