Moorpark has played every game this season on their home field, but they'll have to hit the road on Friday. They will head out to challenge the Santa Barbara Dons at 7:00 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Last Friday, Moorpark took their game at home with ease, bagging a 45-7 victory over Garces Memorial. Given the Musketeers' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 101st, while the Rams are ranked 419th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Eli Hensley had an outrageously good game as he threw for 191 yards and three touchdowns on only 14 passes. Cooper Cronquist was another key player, picking up 98 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, Santa Barbara got themselves on the board against Dos Pueblos on Friday, but Dos Pueblos never followed suit. They really took it to the Chargers for the full four quarters, racking up a 49-0 win at home. The contest was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Dons had established a 42 point advantage.
A big part of the victory came down to the chemistry between Laird Finkel and his top target Tomas Gil. Finkel threw for 331 yards and three touchdowns while completing 84.6% of his passes while Gil picked up 115 receiving yards and two touchdowns. The dominant performance gave him a new career- in total yards. A healthy portion of that aerial production (83 yards to be exact) also went to Carter Debusk, who also brought in a receiving touchdown.
Moorpark's win was their fourth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 3-0. As for Santa Barbara, the victory was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 3-0.
The upcoming match will be a clash of competing strengths. Moorpark has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 149.3 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Santa Barbara has preferred to attack from the air: they average 279 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
