La Habra football team notches first victory, defeating Diamond Ranch 31-10

Going into halftime of their Friday home match-up with Diamond Ranch, La Habra Highlanders quarterback Ryan Zanelli didn’t feel comfortable with the team’s 10-3 lead.

Sure, the Highlanders were up, but they’d played in close games throughout their 0-4 start to the season, and the team had hardly played a perfect first half offensively, including Zanelli’s single interception of the night.

By the second drive of the half, however, Zanelli felt like the team was rolling, and his feeling was backed up by a scoreboard as the La Habra offense rolled in the second half, outscoring the Panthers 21-7 over the final two quarters to coast to a 31-10 win that had their lei-adorned crowd screaming in a Hawaiian-themed homecoming game that doubled as the Highlanders’ first win of the season.

“That second drive I think it all started to click. I started to realize all right, we got this, we’re going to win this game,” Zanelli said.

Zanelli threw three of the Highlanders’ four touchdowns on the evening, with two in the second half as he directed the offense down the field to help the Highlanders avoid entering league play – where they haven’t lost a game since 2006 – with an 0-5 record.

“We needed a win for our own mental state, that’s for sure. It’s tough being close and coming up short. It just drains your soul,” said Highlanders Coach Coach Frank Mazzotta.

Zanelli wasn’t the only player to contribute to a victory in which La Habra’s defense was nearly impenetrable for most of the game.

Defensive lineman Daniel Barrelas contributed seven of the Highlanders’ eight sacks, while versatile junior Clark Phillips III played corner back to help hold down four-star Panthers wide receiver Cristian Dixon on offense, with Dixon’s only touchdown coming in with 3:16 remaining and the game already out of reach for the Panthers.

Phillips contributed in every phase of the game for La Habra, running back kick returns for massive gains and using a quick juke and some rapid acceleration to turn what was initially a short catch into an approximately 70-yard touchdown reception to give the Highlanders a 31-3 lead with 6:56 remaining in the game.

“I told coach that I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win at this point. Coming in 0-4 that’s big, going into league. We don’t want to go into league 0-5,” Phillips said. “I told him I was willing to do whatever, and I did that, so we came out with a victory.”

Mazzotta said the Highlanders made a concerted effort to give Phillips the ball in space on offense and let him go to work.

“You’d have to be stupid not to try and get him the ball,” Mazzotta said. “Clark is just a special kid. He’s just a game changer. He gets the ball and literally every time he touches the ball he can score.”

The Highlanders will get their next test when they host Fullerton on Friday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m., the same night and time when Diamond Ranch (3-2) will travel to Hacienda Heights to take on Los Altos.

—Harrison Faigen, For OC Sports Zone