The Mission Viejo Diablos will square off against the Chaparral Pumas at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are still undefeated (Mission Viejo has 13 wins dating back to last season, while Chaparral has four).
Mission Viejo's upcoming matchup probably won't be as stressful as their last, when they took on another nationally ranked opponent: Basha, who was ranked 55th at the time (Mission Viejo was ranked tenth). Mission Viejo narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Basha 31-28. The 31-point effort marked the Diablos' lowest-scoring contest of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
One reason for the win was Mission Viejo's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for seven sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Jaden Williams and Carter Wegis, who racked up five sacks between them. Williams is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made five or more in the last 21 games he's played dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, while Chaparral put up plenty of points on Friday, the same can't be said for Great Oak. Chaparral claimed a resounding 42-0 victory over Great Oak on the road. The result was nothing new for the Pumas, who have now won three matches by 21 points or more so far this season.
A big part of Chaparral's win came down to the chemistry between Dane Weber and his top target Caden "CB" Butler. Weber threw for 224 yards and three touchdowns while completing 84.2% of his passes while Butler picked up 125 receiving yards and two touchdowns. The team also got some help courtesy of Jayce Venable, who rushed for 34 yards and two touchdowns.
Chaparral wouldn't let Great Oak keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Chaparral can thank Shane Klingelberg and Corbin Frutos for forcing both of them. Klingelberg also set a new season high mark in total tackles with ten.
Mission Viejo pushed their record up to 5-0 with the victory, which was their sixth straight at home dating back to last season. As for Chaparral, their win bumped their record up to 4-0.
The upcoming game will be a clash of competing strengths. Mission Viejo has relied on air attacks this season and has averaged 276.8 passing yards per game. Chaparral, on the other hand, has relied on a stout run game: they average 157 rushing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Mission Viejo took their victory against Chaparral when the teams last played back in October of 2014 by a conclusive 31-11. In that matchup, Mission Viejo amassed a halftime lead of 24-3, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
