Football Preview: Huntington Beach Oilers vs. La Habra Highlanders
After three games on the road, Huntington Beach is heading back home. They will host the La Habra Highlanders at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Huntington Beach is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 39.2 points per game this season.
Last Friday, Huntington Beach blew past Laguna Hills, posting a 42-3 win on the road. With the Oilers ahead 35-0 at the half, the contest was all but over already.
Huntington Beach found their leader in underclassman Brady Edmunds, who threw for 274 yards and three touchdowns while completing 76.5% of his passes, and also punched in two touchdowns on the ground. Huntington Beach is undefeated when Edmunds posts two or more rushing touchdowns, but 1-2 otherwise. Troy Foster was Edmunds' top target, picking up 127 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
One reason for the win was Huntington Beach's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for six sacks. Trent Clark was especially locked on to Laguna Hills' QB and sacked him three times. Clark also set a new season high mark in total tackles with seven.
Meanwhile, La Habra entered their tilt with El Dorado on Thursday with four consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with five. They strolled past the Golden Hawks with points to spare, taking the game 25-7. Given the Highlanders' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 80th, while the Golden Hawks are ranked 276th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
La Habra didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Kenneth Saucedo and Ulavai Fetuli.
Huntington Beach has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 4-2 record this season. As for La Habra, their victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 5-1.
The upcoming match will be a clash of competing strengths. Huntington Beach has relied on air attacks this season and has averaged 276.3 passing yards per game. La Habra, on the other hand, has relied on a stout run game: they average 276.5 rushing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps