The La Habra Highlanders are taking a road trip to take on the Foothill Knights at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
La Habra took a loss when they played away from home last Friday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Thursday. They claimed a resounding 42-13 win over Laguna Hills. With the Highlanders ahead 28-6 at the half, the game was all but over already.
DJ Mitchell
| 10/23/25 vs Laguna Hills | 320 |
| 10/02/25 @ El Dorado | 236 |
| 10/10/25 vs Huntington Beach | 235 |
| 10/17/25 @ Crean Lutheran | 230 |
| 09/19/25 @ La Mirada | 220 |
It was another big night for DJ Mitchell, who threw for 320 yards and five TDs while picking up 16.0 yards per attempt, and also rushed for 38 yards. Those 320 passing yards gave him a new career-high. La Habra also got help from Blake (Blaze) Rogers, who showed off his sure hands for 105 receiving yards.
La Habra's run defense was locked in: Laguna Hills could only muster 1.9 yards per carry. The team can thank Noah Barajas for the heroic effort on defense: he. La Habra is a perfect 6-0 when they shut down the run game so well.
La Habra's defense also made the game a nightmare for Jaxson Vanderbeek, racking up seven sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Barajas and Boston Greene, who racked up 4.5 sacks between them. Barajas has been hot recently, having also posted six or more total tackles the last three times he's played.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Foothill). They took down El Dorado 31-13 on Friday. The team's explosion on offense also rewarded the Knights with their most commanding win of the season.
Foothill's win came from a few key players La Habra will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Jake Podell, who rushed for 69 yards and one score on only seven carries. He got the majority of those rushing yards when he took off on a run that went for an incredible 50 yards. Derek Simecek was another key player, picking up 92 receiving yards and one touchdown.
Foothill's victory ended a five-game drought at home dating back to last season and bumped them up to 3-6. As for La Habra, their record is now 6-3.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's contest: La Habra has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 385.1 total yards per game. It's a different story for Foothill, though, as they've been averaging an even more impressive 246.1 total yards. Will La Habra be able to march up the field at their leisure again, or will the Knights flip the script?
Everything came up roses for La Habra against Foothill when the teams last played back in November of 2024, as the squad secured a 49-14 win. In that matchup, the Highlanders amassed a halftime lead of 42-7, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Thursday.
