Football Preview: Temple City Rams vs. La Canada Spartans
After starting their season with five straight games on the road, Temple City is finally coming home. After each having a week off, they and the La Canada Spartans will shake off the cobwebs and square off against one another at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both have allowed few points on average, (Temple City: 10, La Canada: 11.6) so any points scored will be well earned.
Last Friday, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Temple City beat Azusa 20-14. The 20-point effort marked the Rams' lowest-scoring contest of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
It was another big night for Jadon Griffin, who picked up 153 receiving yards and two touchdowns. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 101.2 receiving yards per game. Another player making a difference was Jake Leones, who threw for 146 yards and two touchdowns while completing 80% of his passes.
Temple City's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged four passes before it was all said and done. Tristan Powell led the group effort, picking up two of those interceptions all by himself. The dominant performance also gave Griffin a new career-high in rushing yards.
Meanwhile, La Canada put another one in the bag last Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They secured a 35-31 W over Maranatha. The defensive woes were uncharacteristic for the Spartans, who until this matchup were averaging 11.6 points allowed.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, La Canada was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 223 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 171 rushing yards in three consecutive games.
Temple City's win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 5-0. As for La Canada, their victory bumped their record up to an identical 5-0.
Friday's match might be decided in the on the ground. Temple City has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 170.2 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like La Canada struggles in that department as they've been averaging 199.6. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Temple City took a serious blow against La Canada when the teams last played back in October of 2023, falling 56-6. That matchup was all but decided by halftime, at which point Temple City was down 35-6.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
