The Thousand Oaks Lancers are taking a road trip to challenge the Rio Mesa Spartans at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Having both just faced considerable losses, both teams are looking to turn things around.
Thousand Oaks will head out to face Rio Mesa after giving up their first home loss of the season on Friday. The Lancers came up short against Westlake, falling 42-21. The Lancers gained 51 more yards on the day, but it was the Warriors that made the best use of them.
Despite the loss, Thousand Oaks had strong showings from Jackson Taylor, who threw for 272 yards and a pair of TDs while completing 73.3% of his passes, and Brady Beck, who picked up 122 receiving yards and one touchdown. Beck showed off some serious burst, cutting upfield on a catch for 51 yards.
Meanwhile, Rio Mesa played a tough game on Friday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They had to suffer through a 45-13 loss at the hands of Santa Barbara. While losing is never fun, the Spartans can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 352nd, while the Dons are ranked 133rd).
Although Rio Mesa took the loss, they still got scores from Juan Munoz and Diego Ramirez.
Rio Mesa's defeat dropped their record down to 1-6. As for Thousand Oaks, the loss was their first at home , dropping their record down to 5-2.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's matchup: Thousand Oaks has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 367 total yards per game. It's a different story for Rio Mesa, though, as they've been averaging only 239.1 total yards. Will Thousand Oaks be able to march up the field at their leisure again, or will the Spartans flip the script?
Thousand Oaks came up short against Rio Mesa in their previous meeting back in October of 2024, falling 54-48. Can the Lancers avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
