It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact Murrieta Valley can now relate to. They fell just short of the Newbury Park Panthers by a score of 31-28 on Saturday. The contest was a 14-14 toss-up at halftime, but the Nighthawks couldn't quite close it out.
When it comes to explaining why Murrieta Valley lost, don't look at Dorian Hoze. Despite the final result, he rushed for 256 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 8.8 yards per carry. Hoze was no stranger to the big play, turning on the jets for a run that went for 69 yards.
Brady Smigiel was his usual excellent self, throwing for 322 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 14.6 yards per attempt, and also rushing for 57 yards and a touchdown for Newbury Park. That's the most rushing yards Smigiel has posted since back in September. Shane Rosenthal was Smigiel's top target, picking up 120 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Murrieta Valley's defeat ended a six-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 11-3. As for Newbury Park, the victory for them keeps them at an undefeated 14-0.
Murrieta Valley does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Newbury Park, they will head out on the road to face off against Lincoln at 8:00 p.m. on Friday. Lincoln is on a four-game streak of home wins, Newbury Park a nine-game streak of away wins (dating back to last season)-- so someone will have to leave a streak behind on the field.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
