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La Mirada High junior wide receiver Aaron Castro tip-toes down the La Mirada sideline in the first quarter with one of his six receptions against La Habra High last Thursday. Castro had 69 yards in a 48-21 loss. PHOTO BY DILLON NICHOLS.
September 23, 2024
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
LA HABRA-Separated by a mere four and a half miles, La Mirada High made the short trek to neighbor La Habra High for the first time in 10 years only to find the same troubles that has haunted the Matadores this season. For the fifth time, the Matadores scored no more than 15 points in the first half, and for the fifth time, they were unable to double that performance in the second half, falling to the Highlanders 48-21 last Thursday night.
La Mirada dropped to 1-4 as it played its last non-league game and has now been outscored 100-49 in the first half. However, it’s been the second half where the Matadores have done most of their damage, scoring 63 points as they have tried to rally in all four losses. Against La Habra, it was 41-14 at the half, the largest first half deficit of the season.
“I just think we battled [in the second half],” said La Mirada head coach Lucas Mealy. “But the problem is, we’ve got to battle in the first half. We have to make sure we’re doing the things we’re supposed to do in the first half and not wait until the second half to turn things on; to get it going. It’s part of our program right now. We have to learn how to win; we have to learn how to things the right way, and it starts with me. I have to do better getting them prepared and make sure they know what they’re supposed to be doing. Ultimately, we have to start the game off the right way and not put ourselves in that type of situation.”
It also didn’t help that the Matadores could not stop La Habra in the first half as the Highlanders scored on all six half possessions, and faced a third down situation once, which came with under a minute remaining in the half.
Four plays into the contest Kevika Martinez scored on an eight-yard run nearly two minutes into the contest and after La Mirada turned the ball over on downs, Bobby Brooks, the son of former Norwalk High and John Glenn High baseball head coach Jack Brooks and grandson of former La Mirada baseball head coach and athletic director Kim Brooks, scored from five yards out.
The Matadores finally hit the end zone in the high-scoring opening quarter as junior running back Jordan Lauago got loose for a 60-yard score after his seven-yard reception on third down had given the Matadores the opportunity to extend the drive.
But the Highlanders responded with six straight runs, ending with Martinez scoring from three yards out with 73 seconds remaining in the stanza. After the first quarter, La Habra had 202 yards on 16 plays and the quarterback combination of D.J. Mitchell and Kenneth Saucedo, who alternate possessions, completed five passes for 74 yards.
La Mirada was looking to get back in the contest on its first drive of the second quarter, but on third and eight from its 48-yard line, junior quarterback Santino Garcia was sacked for a nine-yard loss and the Matadores were forced to punt. La Habra then took advantage of a 60-yard field and went up 27-7 after Mitchell found Blake Rogers for a 13-yard score. Two plays later, Garcia was picked off by Ulavai Fetuli at the 45-yard line and the turnover turned into an eight-yard touchdown pass from Saucedo to Andrew Becerra with 4:40 left in the half.
The Matadores then had their best drive of the half, going 76 yards on nine plays and taking 3:09 off the clock as Garcia scored on a nine-yard run with 91 seconds left. But the Highlanders refused to sit on the ball the rest of the way, going 51 yards on seven plays, capped by a six-yard score from Mitchell. His four-yard run on third and three kept the drive alive, then he scored three plays later.
Mitchell and Saucedo were a perfect 10 of 10 for 133 yards and two touchdowns in the half while four ball carriers combined for 222 yards on 27 carries. In contrast, the Matadores had 295 yards in the game.
“Oh, we have to stop the run,” said Mealy. “In the first drive, they gashed us with the run game. I think once we stop the run, we have a chance to be able to do some things. When we don’t stop the run, it’s very difficult to do anything.
“We have to tackle,” he continued. “Like I told the boys at halftime, we have to have heart, we have to block, we have to tackle, and we have to do things the right way.”
La Mirada’s defense finally stopped the Highlanders on their first drive of the second half but couldn’t generate much on its initial drive. Then at the 8:30 mark of the third quarter, Brooks scored on a 25-yard run and on the first play of La Mirada’ s ensuing possession, Garcia launched a 68-yard touchdown pass to senior Max Rankin.
With a running game that was nearly invisible, even though Lauago gained 62 yards on six carries, Garcia was asked to carry the bulk of the load and went 18 of 31 for 227 yards. Junior wide receiver Aaron Castro caught six passes for 69 yards, Lauago caught another six passes for 57 yards while Rankin had 87 yards on four receptions.
Senior linebacker Spencer Ammons led the Matadores with seven and a half tackles while Lauago and senior linebacker Gavin Dionne each had six and a half tackles and Rankin four tackles. But the Highlanders still managed to have over 460 yards on offense, most coming from Martinez (nine carries, 64 yards), Mitchell (nine of 13 passing for 98 yards, 13 carries for 96 yards) and Saucedo (six of six passing for 67 yards, five carries for 82 yards).
The Matadores had come off a 29-7 win at Long Beach Jordan High in which Lauago scored once in each quarter. Before that, their defense had allowed at least 38 points in the other three setbacks.
“We felt confident,” said Mealy about the La Habra game. “But once again, it’s part of the program shift that we have to take, and that’s learning how to do things the right way day in and day out. We had a good week of practice; it was a short week. But I think we felt good. I was confident with what we did. At the end of the day, we have to block and tackle at the line and on the side, and we didn’t do that very well.”
La Mirada has defeated La Habra twice since 2009, both times scoring 45 points. However, in the five victories by the Highlanders over the Matadores during that time, they have scored at least 35 points three times.
Following the bye week, the Matadores jump into the gauntlet that is the Gateway League where they will host Downey High, the only team in the league with four wins this season. The Vikings are coming off a 35-32 road loss to Red Mountain High out of Mesa, AZ and have defeated La Mirada in all four meetings since 2018. It will be La Mirada’s first home game since Sept. 6.
Last season, the Matadores were 1-4 heading into their bye week, then went 2-3 in league action. Two seasons ago, half of their four wins came in non-league games. La Mirada would need to win at least three games to assure itself of third place in league.
“La Habra is really, really talented, no doubt,” said Mealy. “I think we had some games that we could have won. I think the Western game we didn’t prepare the correct way, and that’s on me. But I think it was a tough non-league. Cypress is a good team; Tesoro is a damn good team and obviously Jordan has some athletes. We have to take [this loss] on the chin, but we come back out with a bye week next week and come back out with Downey after that. Downey is a damn good football team. We have to make sure we’re prepared for them because we know our league schedule doesn’t get any easier.”
Reinforcements are on the way once the Matadores come back to action as senior transfers Drew Cobos (La Serna High) and Tuiono Tuifua (John Glenn High), both of whom will help in the backfield, will be eligible, thus allowing other players an opportunity to play other positions, according to Mealy.
