Two dominant backs in Wyatt Lucas and Cole Nerio are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Corona del Mar Sea Kings have the luxury of staying home for another week and will welcome the Yorba Linda Mustangs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Having struggled with three defeats in a row, Corona del Mar finally turned things around against Tesoro on Friday. They claimed a resounding 44-14 victory over the Titans. The Sea Kings pushed the score to 38-14 by the end of the third, a deficit the Titans had little chance of recovering from.
Corona del Mar can attribute much of their success to Brady Annett, who threw for 233 yards and four touchdowns, and Lucas, who rushed for 136 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries. Lucas is becoming a predictor of Corona del Mar's success: when he posts at least two rushing touchdowns the team is 2-1 (and 2-4 when he doesn't). Dorsett Stecker was Annett's top target, picking up 162 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Corona del Mar was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 234 rushing yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Tesoro only rushed for 100.
Meanwhile, Yorba Linda made easy work of Newport Harbor on Friday and carried off a 42-17 win. Given the Mustangs' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 27th, while the Sailors are ranked 127th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Nerio was his usual excellent self, rushing for 136 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 7.6 yards per carry. That's the most rushing yards he has posted since back in August. The team also got some help courtesy of Holden Nagin, who threw for 182 yards and two touchdowns while completing 86.7% of his passes.
Corona del Mar's victory bumped their record up to 4-5. As for Yorba Linda, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 7-2 record this season.
Corona del Mar strolled past Yorba Linda in their previous matchup back in November of 2023 by a score of 28-14. Will Corona del Mar repeat their success, or does Yorba Linda have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
