After each having a week off, the La Habra Highlanders and the El Dorado Golden Hawks will shake off the cobwebs and square off against one another at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. One thing working in La Habra's favor is that they have posted at least 31 points in their last four games.
La Habra is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They breezed by La Mirada at home to the tune of 48-21 last Thursday. The Highlanders might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four contests by 23 points or more this season.
While passing duties were split, you can't argue with the impact DJ Mitchell and Kenneth Saucedo both made on the match. Mitchell rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown on only 14 carries while Saucedo rushed for 93 yards on only five carries. The dominant performance gave Mitchell a new career-high in rushing yards.
La Habra's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Saucedo and Ulavai Fetuli. La Habra got some further help from Noah Barajas: he picked up two sacks and made nine total tackles (3.0 for loss).
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, La Habra was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 311 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 264 rushing yards in five consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, El Dorado fell victim to Laguna Beach and their airtight defense last Friday. They took a blow against the Breakers, falling 40-0. Having soared to a lofty 42 points in the game before, the Golden Hawks' shutout was a dramatic turnaround.
La Habra pushed their record up to 4-1 with the win, which was their third straight at home. As for El Dorado, they now have a losing record at 2-3.
Everything went La Habra's way against El Dorado in their previous matchup back in August of 2023, as La Habra made off with a 40-16 victory. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was El Dorado's Nate Bento, who rushed for 64 yards and a touchdown, and also threw for 118 yards and a touchdown. Now that he won't be playing on Thursday, will it be easier for La Habra to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
