Rio Mesa and Westlake met for a duel on Saturday where Rio Mesa came out on top. The Rio Mesa Spartans enjoyed a cozy 37-20 win over the Westlake Warriors. Given the Spartans' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 165th, while the Warriors are ranked 342nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Rio Mesa had a senior duo take command as JJ Bittner threw for 169 yards and two touchdowns while completing 80% of his passes and Isaiah Bautista rushed for 127 yards and a touchdown. Those 127 rushing yards set a new season-high mark for Bautista.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Rio Mesa was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 269 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 193 rushing yards in six consecutive matches.
Caden Atkinson and Demanie Bell certainly did their best on Saturday to avoid the loss. Atkinson threw for 192 yards and two touchdowns while completing 72.7% of his passes, while Bell rushed for 85 yards on only 11 carries.
Rio Mesa's victory bumped their record up to 4-2. As for Westlake, they dropped their record down to 0-6 with the loss, which was their fourth straight on the road.
Rio Mesa didn't take long to hit the field again: they've already played their next game, a 41-28 win against Santa Barbara on the 10th. As for Westlake, they also wasted no time getting back out on the field and have already played their next contest, a 41-14 defeat against Thousand Oaks on the 10th.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
