The Simi Valley Pioneers will be staying on the road on Friday to face off against the Thousand Oaks Lancers at 7:00 p.m. Both are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Simi Valley's defense heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They breezed by Saugus on the road to the tune of 49-0. Given the Pioneers' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 92nd, while the Centurions are ranked 487th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Zane Tryon was nothing short of spectacular: he rushed for 101 yards and two touchdowns on only five carries. Tagg Harrison was another key player, throwing for 208 yards and two touchdowns while completing 83.3% of his passes.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Simi Valley was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 204 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 179 rushing yards in four consecutive matchups.
Simi Valley's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Tamaj Newborn and Gavin Hammond.
Meanwhile, Thousand Oaks had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 12 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. They blew past the Wildcats 30-7. That looming 30-7 mark stands out as the most commanding margin for the Lancers yet this season.
A big part of the win came down to the chemistry between Jackson Taylor and his top target Hayden Vercher. Taylor threw for 182 yards and two touchdowns while Vercher picked up 118 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Simi Valley pushed their record up to 4-0 with that victory, which was their third straight on the road. As for Thousand Oaks, their record is now 3-1.
We should be in store for an exciting game as the two teams have no problem gaining yardage. Simi Valley has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 426.2 total yards per game. However, it's not like Thousand Oaks struggles in that department as they've been averaging 388.8. With a pair of commanding offenses duking it out, the defenses are going to have their work cut out for them.
Everything came up roses for Simi Valley against Thousand Oaks when the teams last played back in October of 2021 as the squad secured a 41-7 win. In that game, Simi Valley amassed a halftime lead of 20-0, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
