Rio Mesa entered their contest against Pacifica on Friday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. The Rio Mesa Spartans fell 28-21 to the Pacifica Tritons. The Spartans gained 96 more yards on the day, but it was the Tritons that made the best use of them.
When it comes to explaining why Rio Mesa lost, don't look at JJ Bittner. Despite the final result, he rushed for 151 yards and two touchdowns on only 11 carries, and also threw for 188 yards and a touchdown. The dominant performance gave Bittner a new career-high in rushing yards. Rio Mesa also got a significant boost from Isaiah Bautista, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 91 yards.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Rio Mesa was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 308 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 193 rushing yards in four consecutive games.
Pacifica found their leader in underclassman Alijah Royster, who rushed for 175 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 9.2 yards per carry. With that strong performance, Royster is now averaging an impressive 116 rushing yards per game. Isaiah Dillon was another key player, picking up 152 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Rio Mesa's loss dropped their record down to 2-2. As for Pacifica, their win bumped their record up to 3-1.
Rio Mesa is taking a road trip to face off against Oxnard at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both are at an even 5-5 against one another since October of 2014, but likely not for long. As for Pacifica, they will host Inglewood at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams might be coming in a bit winded given these two teams combined for 990 yards in their previous games.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
