Football Preview: Thousand Oaks Lancers vs. Newbury Park Panthers
Two dominant signal callers in Jackson Taylor and Brady Smigiel are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Thousand Oaks Lancers will venture away from home to challenge the Newbury Park Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Thousand Oaks will be hoping to continue their three-game streak of scoring more points each match than the last.
Thousand Oaks fought the good fight in their overtime contest against Rio Mesa on Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell to the Spartans 54-48. One positive for the Lancers, at least, is that this was the most points they've scored all season.
Despite the loss, Thousand Oaks got top-tier performance from Taylor, who threw for 356 yards and six touchdowns while completing 73% of his passes, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground. Thousand Oaks is undefeated when Taylor posts 250 or more passing yards, but 2-3 otherwise. Hayden Vercher also helped out as he racked up 190 receiving yards.
Meanwhile, Newbury Park put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They blew past Westlake 45-3 at home. Fans of the Panthers have seen this all before: every one of the games they've played this season has ended in a blowout of 20+ points.
A big part of Newbury Park's victory came down to the chemistry between Smigiel and his top target Shane Rosenthal. Smigiel threw for 290 yards and five touchdowns while completing 76.9% of his passes while Rosenthal picked up 199 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Rosenthal torched the secondary when he pulled down a catch that went for 82 yards. The team also got some help courtesy of Kayin Booker, who gained 93 total yards and a touchdown.
Thousand Oaks' defeat dropped their record down to 5-3. As for Newbury Park, their win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 8-0.
We should be in store for an exciting game as both have no problem gaining yardage. Thousand Oaks has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 376.9 total yards per game. However, it's not like Newbury Park struggles in that department as they've been averaging 377.2. With a pair of commanding offenses duking it out, the defenses are going to have their work cut out for them.
Thousand Oaks couldn't quite finish off Newbury Park in their previous matchup back in November of 2023 and fell 22-19. Can Thousand Oaks avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
