PHOTOS: La Habra goes out a winner over Sonora in final Freeway League game

La Habra wide receiver Bryce Whitley controls a TD pass that was tipped by Sonora defender Luke Crowder. (Photos courtesy Jim McCormack, For OC Sports Zone).

James Gomez has been on the La Habra City Council for 22 years and one of his annual duties has been to present the Battle of the Blue City Championship to the winner of the clash between the city’s two high schools, La Habra and Sonora.

Gomez has never had the opportunity to hand the trophy to Sonora players and he probably never will.

Friday night’s game, won, as usual, by La Habra, 48-21, was the final duel in the storied history of the Freeway League and possibly the last game, for the foreseeable future, in the Battle of the Blue rivalry.

Orange County, with a goal of competitive equity, plans to restructure all of its leagues except for the Trinity League into one football conference, grouping like ability teams based on rankings as CIF does now in the playoffs.

It’s possible that none of the Freeway League teams will be in the same league next fall, which is a significant price to pay.

La Habra Mayor James Gomez presented The Battle of the Blue City Championship trophy to La Habra for the 22nd consecutive year after the Highlanders’ 48-21 win over Sonora.

La Habra’s Dom Gomez receives a high five from anm assistant coach after scoring on 79-yard run, his third TD of the game.

Sonora coach Kevin Oberlander congratulates a La Habra player after Battle of the Blue game.

La Habra can add 2023 to this list after sharing final Freeway League title with Sonora and Troy.

The rivalry game between Sonora and La Habra was very polite.

How long has La Habra been city champs? Twenty-two years to be exact.

La Habra’s Brandon Giron slips tackle of Sonora’s Andrew Chavez on way to a 30-yard touchdown run.

Sonora’s Olin Morales Hyder lateral to Nicholas Fernandez (15) on a hook and ladder pass play that covered 32 yards for the Raiders’ first TD of the night.

The La Habra defensive line, including Noah Holm (81), Jordan Armijo (51), Noah Poppin (77) and Isiah Vilchis (26), dominated the line of scrimmage.

Dom Gomez (1) and Brandon Giron combined for five touchdowns in the La Habra victory.

Sonora’s Anthony Abad (No. 25) takes a pitch from quarterback Landon Martin on a sweep play. Abad scored the Raiders’ second TD.

Members of the 2001 Sonora football team, the last Raider team to defeat La Habra were on hand to support their team. The group included assistant coach Mike Baker.

La Habra’s Noah Poppin receives congratulations after corralling a Sonora pass that had been blocked by teammate Isiah Vilchis.

La Habra’s Tyler Robertson tip toes inside the pylon for a TD on a pass from Landon Martin. La Habra defender is Blake Rogers.

Senior Christina Sidoti kicked the last two extra points for La Habra.

La Habra’s Jordan Armijo (51) deflects a pass by Sonora’s Landon Martin as teammate Noah Holm pressures.

La Habra Coach Frank Mazzotta, 25-1 in Battle of the Blue games, gives instructions.

Arnold Leos wears his son Jacob’s letterman’s jacket, which sports a patch commemorating Sonora’s last win over La Habra in 2001. The senior Leos has photographed photo La Habra schools for more than to decades.

Sonora’s Olin Morales Hyder and Luke Crowder break up a pass intended for La Habra’s Bryce Whitley.

The La Habra offensive line of Elijah Magana (75), Juju Verduzco (58), Noah Morales (52) and Jory Fillmore (70) and Seth Newton (74) played a big role in an offense that massed more than 400 yards.

La Habra's Brandon Giron is congratulated by teammate Kenneth Saucedo after a big play.

Hall of Fame community college coach Frank Mazzotta (right) was on hand Friday to support La Habra and his son Highlanders Coach Frank Mazzotta.

The Freeway League is a tightly knit league with its six schools – La Habra, Sonora, Troy, Fullerton, Sunny Hills and Buena Park – within eight miles of each other. While the competitiveness has varied among five of the six schools, the geographical dynamic has led to a number of wonderful rivalries over the years.

That includes the Battle of the Blue even though La Habra has won the last 22 meeting by a combined score of 845-229.

A sign in the stadium declared “2 schools One Community,” which accurately reflected the evening. An overflow crowd was at the stadium the schools share on the La Habra campus and the evening was somewhat street fair in nature.

It was an exciting opportunity for Sonora which could win the Freeway League title outright and secure its first win over the Highlanders since Frank Sanchez scooped up a muffed center snap and ran for a 2-point conversion in an 8-7 victory in Frank Mazotta’s fourth season as La Habra coach.

But, like most dreams of dethroning the king, it was not to be.

“That’s the fastest and most physical football team we have played all year,” Sonora Coach Kevin Oberlander said after the game.

La Habra opened an early 14-0 lead before Sonora narrowed the advantage to seven on a slick hook-and-ladder play, quarterback Landon Martin to Olin Morales Hyder, who lateralled to Nicholas Fernandez on a 32-yard TD play.

The Highlanders extended the advantage to 20-7 in the second quarter before a 1-yard run by Sonora’s Anthony Abad pulled the Raiders within six.

La Habra scored twice in the final six minutes of the half to build a 34-14 lead and Sonora was unable to challenge.

Quarterback Kenneth Saucedo threw touchdown passes to Dom Gomez and Bryce Whitley and Gomez and Brandon Giron combined for five TDs in the victory.

Giron’s first score was a spectacular 30-yard run on 4^th and 6 and one of Gomez’s TDs was on a 79-yard run.

La Habra finished the regular season 6-4, 4-1 in league and earned a piece of its 16^th Freeway League title in the last 17 years. Sonora is 8-2, 4-1, its best season in years and a tribute to the rebuilding that Oberlander has directed in his three seasons as head coach.

La Habra and Sonora shared the final Freeway League title with Troy, which also finished 4-1 with a win over Sunny Hills. The Warriors defeated La Habra earlier in the season, securing a 27-21 victory when Saucedo was tackled a yard short of the end zone with seconds to play.

Mazzotta and Oberlander was happy to share the crown.

“We are Freeway champions and that feels really good,” Oberlander said. “A championship is really awesome for our community.”

So, is the Battle of the Blue over?

“I think it is,” Mazzotta said.

For the time being, probably.

“More than likely,” Oberlander said when asked. “The reality of the situation is we haven’t beaten them in more than two decades. What I want is for our football program is competitive equity, and right now we don’t have that. As soon as I feel we are going to be consistently close to them, we will play them. I’m a big fan of rivalries.”

Both teams are headed to the CIF playoffs next week.

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—Courtesy Jim McCormack, For OC Sports Zone