Rio Mesa has been on the road for two straight, but on Friday they'll finally head home. They will welcome the Newbury Park Panthers 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.
Rio Mesa is probably headed into the match with a chip on their shoulder considering Calabasas just ended the team's four-game winning streak on Friday. They fell 43-34 to the Coyotes. The Spartans have struggled against the Coyotes recently, as the game was their third consecutive lost matchup.
Defeat or not, Rio Mesa got some senior leadership from Isaiah Bautista and JJ Bittner. Bautista gained 142 total yards and three touchdowns, while Bittner rushed for 60 yards and a touchdown. Bautista is also on a roll when it comes to rushing touchdowns, as he's now punched in two or more in the last three games he's played.
Meanwhile, Newbury Park put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They blew past Thousand Oaks, posting a 38-0 win. Fans of the Panthers have seen this all before: every one of the games they've played this season has ended in a blowout of 20+ points.
Brady Smigiel was his usual excellent self, throwing for 292 yards and three touchdowns while completing 82.4% of his passes, and also catching a touchdown. Another player making a difference was Shane Rosenthal, who picked up 134 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Rio Mesa's loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 6-3. As for Newbury Park, their victory was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 9-0.
Friday's game will pit two of the most dominant signal callers against one another: Bittner and Smigiel. Bittner has put up some stellar numbers this year, and currently owns excellent season averages 235.9 passing yards and has 16 passing touchdowns on the season. For his part, Smigiel has averaged 254.3 passing yards and has 34 passing touchdowns on the season.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
