After each having a week off, the Centennial Huskies and the Mission Viejo Diablos will dust off their jerseys to square off against one another at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Centennial sitting on eight straight wins and Mission Viejo on 18 (dating back to last season).
Centennial is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of California's top teams: Chaparral, who was ranked 25th in their home state at the time (Centennial was ranked fifth). Centennial simply couldn't be stopped last Friday as they easily beat Chaparral 54-12. The result was nothing new for the Huskies, who have now won six matchups by 24 points or more so far this season.
Dominick Catalano was nothing short of spectacular: he threw for 354 yards and two touchdowns while completing 78.3% of his passes, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground. Centennial also got help from Cory Butler, Jr., who showed off his sure hands for 164 receiving yards.
Centennial's defense stepped up as well, laying out the QB seven times. Leading the way was Jonathan McKinley II with three sacks. He is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made five or more in the last three games he's played.
Meanwhile, Mission Viejo got the win against Los Alamitos last Friday by a conclusive 40-14. The result was nothing new for the Diablos, who have now won eight games by 25 points or more so far this season.
Luke Fahey had a dynamite game for Mission Viejo, throwing for 326 yards and three touchdowns while completing 87.5% of his passes, and also rushing for 40 yards and a touchdown. That's the most rushing yards Fahey has posted since back in December of 2023. Phillip Bell Iii was another key player, picking up 98 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Mission Viejo pushed their record up to 10-0 with the victory, which was their tenth straight at home dating back to last season. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 28.1 points. As for Centennial, their record is now 8-2.
The upcoming match will be a clash of competing strengths. Centennial has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 237.9 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Mission Viejo has preferred to attack from the air: they average 276.7 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Centennial couldn't quite finish off Mission Viejo in their previous meeting back in November of 2022 and fell 31-28. Thankfully for Centennial, Kadin Semonza (who threw for 312 yards and two touchdowns, and also caught a touchdown) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
