LA HABRA — The La Habra football team flexed its muscles on both sides of the ball in a 41-14 win over visiting Ayala on Thursday night, furthering the Highlanders’ status as one of the top teams in the San Gabriel Valley area.
On the heels of a dominant 56-21 win over Northview last week, the Highlanders’ offense pieced together another big effort led by quarterback DJ Mitchell, who nearly matched his season total in passing yards in the winning effort.
“I started off a little slow, trying to find my groove,” Mitchell said. “But after that I was dialed in, making my completions, just taking what the defense was giving me and letting my guys go to work.”
Mitchell finished with over 250 total yards and four touchdowns.
La Habra coach Frank Mazzota noted that his team is 3-0 but said it still has a few things it needs to clean up
“I thought the kids played hard,” Mazzota said. “I think we gotta clean up some things for sure, offensively for sure. We got to dial in and be a little more precise on offense.”
The Highlanders’ defense was flying all over the field and forced a season-high four interceptions.
“That’s one thing about this group of kids, they practice hard and prepare well,” Mazzota noted about his defensive back unit.
La Habra’s offense came out of the gate firing. Mitchell connected with one of his top targets, Blake Rogers, on the opening play from scrimmage.
“It’s the best thing ever. I love catching the ball from DJ,” Rogers said grinning ear to ear. “He is so accurate and makes all his reads perfectly down to the wire. I love him so much because he makes the right decisions constantly, over and over again.”
Kevika Mata’utia-Martinez punched it in from 1 yard out to give La Habra a 6-0 lead with 9:41 left in the first quarter.
Ayala opened the second quarter with a touchdown to take a 7-6 lead. The Bulldogs didn’t score again until the fourth quarter.
Another touchdown run from Mata’utia-Martinez on the ensuing drive gave the Highlanders a 13-7 lead and they wouldn’t look back.
La Habra made it a double-digit lead when Mitchell hit Rogers for a 26-yard touchdown pass to extend their lead to 20-7 with 4:32 left in the half.
Mitchell found Rogers again for their second touchdown connection with time expiring in the second quarter to put La Habra up 34-7.
Despite rolling into halftime with tons of momentum La Habra’s offense fell flat to begin the second half.
Ayala held the Highlanders scoreless in the third quarter, However, they were unable to capitalize on the offensive end.
Mitchell scored his second rushing touchdown of the game to begin the fourth quarter. His 15-yard scramble pushed the lead to 41-7.
The Bulldogs tacked on one more score with 3:30 left to cut the deficit to 41-14.
La Habra will host Mira Costa next week as it looks to start 4-0 for the first time since 2020.
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