La Habra players and coaches celebrate after winning the CIF Division 4 title Saturday. (Photo courtesy La Habra Athletics.)
La Habra football players were back on the field Monday planning for their next challenge two days after capturing the CIF Division 4 championship with a 27-13 victory over San Jacinto Saturday night in San Jacinto.
It was the eighth CIF title for La Habra under Coach Frank Mazzotta and the first since 2015.
“It was really fun, it was great to have an opportunity to play in a championship again,” Mazzotta said Tuesday. “We had a pretty challenging playoff grouping with Oaks Christian and Cathedral and San Jac and El Modena, I thought that was a pretty good playoff bracket. It definitely ranks right up there.”
Next up, La Habra (11-3) travels to Bakersfield to face CIF Central Conference 1A champion Bakersfield Christian in the CIF South Regional 2-AA bowl game Friday night at 7:30. The winner moves on to the finals the following weekend at Saddleback College against the winner of the North bowl game between Serra and St. Mary’s.
In the win over San Jacinto, No. 2 seeded La Habra was led by a strong running attack led by junior Kevika Mata’Utia-Martinez who rushed for 205 yards on 33 carries and two touchdowns. Muli-threat quarterback DJ Mitchell was also solid, Mazzotta said. Although the Highlanders only passed eight times, Mitchell, a junior, rushed seven times for 93 yards and threw one touchdown pass.
“The kids played really well,” Mazzotta said. “I thought defensively we were pretty good because they’re a really solid offense with a really good run game. They’re a well coached group with some good athletes and offensively, I thought we were able to run the ball pretty effectively. That was huge. The offensive line guys and the tight ends really did a nice job moving their guys and giving us a chance to get some good yardage.”
The Highlanders received outstanding blocking from Sonny Rodriguez, Barrett Blied, Josh Holm, Luis Dolphin, Jacob Morales, Noah Poppin and Julian Verduzco, Mazzotta said.
On defense, Mazzotta said that safety Bobby Brooks had another outstanding game.
“He’s been great all year and Aaron Castro had an interception and Luke Hedgpeth, our defensive end, played really well and our outside linebacker Noah Barajas {played well},” Mazzotta said.
Mazzotta said he and his players are looking forward to the challenge of facing Bakersfield Christian (12-0).
“They’re the Division 1 champion from up North,” he said. “They’re really good and well coached, they look like tough kids, looks like a good match-up.
“Offensively, we’ve got to able to do the things we set out to do. Do we run the ball? What’s their defensive plan? From that point on, we have to have the answer, whatever that might be. Every game is different, we might be throwing the ball more, it’s hard to tell each week.
“Defensively, everything revolves around stopping the run first and then making your adjustments from there as well.”
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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