Thousand Oaks fought the good fight in their overtime match against Rio Mesa on Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell to the Rio Mesa Spartans 54-48. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Thursday (41), the Lancers still had to take the loss.
Despite the loss, Thousand Oaks still got an impressive performance from Jackson Taylor, who threw for 356 yards and six touchdowns while completing 73% of his passes, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground. Taylor has become a key player for Thousand Oaks: the team is undefeated when he posts at least 250 passing yards, but 2-3 otherwise. Hayden Vercher did his part for the team as well, scoring a TD off of 190 receiving yards.
Rio Mesa's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from JJ Bittner, who threw for 267 yards and two touchdowns, and also rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown on only 11 carries. Terrance Morrow handled things on the ground, rushing for 101 yards and two rushing touchdowns.
Thousand Oaks' loss dropped their record down to 5-3. As for Rio Mesa, the victory (which was their fourth in a row) raised their record to 6-2.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Thousand Oaks will venture away from home to face off against Newbury Park at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Newbury Park's favor is that they have posted at least 31 points every time they've taken the field this season. As for Rio Mesa, they are taking a road trip to challenge Calabasas at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Rio Mesa is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 33.9 points per game this season.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
