The Mt. Whitney Pioneers will head out on the road to face off against the Mission Oak Hawks at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Mt. Whitney is coming into the contest hot, having won their last seven games.
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Mt. Whitney had no problem doing just that on Friday. They came out on top against Nipomo by a score of 28-18.
Mt. Whitney's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Micah Rodriguez, who threw for 208 yards and two touchdowns, and Kysen Sing, who rushed for 97 yards and two touchdowns. Israel Briggs did his part to keep the secondary busy, picking up 82 receiving yards.
Meanwhile, even though Independence scored an imposing 31 points on Thursday, Mission Oak still came out on top. Mission Oak walked away with a 38-31 win over Independence. Given Mission Oak's advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 249th, while Independence is ranked 524th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Mission Oak's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Daniel Gonzalez, who rushed for 112 yards and two touchdowns on only eight carries. Gonzalez really tore up the turf during one magnificent 80-yard run. Kenny Jackson also helped out as he racked up 134 rushing yards.
Mt. Whitney has yet to lose a matchup at home this season, leaving them with a 8-3 record. That said, the team wasn't facing the toughest opposition over that stretch, as it included 1-9 Monache and 3-8 Golden West (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 34.3% over those games). As for Mission Oak, they now have a winning record of 6-5.
Mt. Whitney couldn't quite finish off Mission Oak in their previous meeting back in September and fell 25-22. Can Mt. Whitney avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
