FULLERTON – La Habra’s streak of consecutive Freeway League victories reached 35 on Friday.
Getting to 36 is going to be quite a challenge.
The Highlanders play Buena Park next week, the final week of the regular season. This Buena Park team is the best one since the Coyotes advanced to the CIF-Southern Section Division 9 championship game in 2001.
Buena Park has one of the county’s great running backs, Deven Boston. But these Coyotes throw the ball well, too. Quarterback Ahmad Redeemer throws an accurate, easy-to-catch ball, and he has a bunch of outstanding receivers, including Jaylinn Hawkins and Nikolas Needham.
The Coyotes are very fast on defense, too. They sacked Fullerton quarterback Scott Lloyd more than a half-dozen times.
The Buena Park-La Habra game is at La Habra High. That’s the best location for a high school football game. That stadium will be full early, and it will get loud.
JSerra posted a historic win. The Lions beat Servite, 48-43, for their first win against the Friars. JSerra has beaten Orange Lutheran and Santa Margarita in previous years in the Trinity League. The Lions have never won two league games, but they have a chance to do so next week.
They play Santa Margarita, which lost big to Orange Lutheran, 54-14.
With JSerra feeling good about itself after beating Servite, and Santa Margarita possibly down in the dumps after such a one-sided loss, JSerra could be in great position to win two league games in the same year for the first time.
JSerra still has some growing to do. The Lions have plenty of ground to make up to become a playoff contender in the Trinity League. They also need to improve in the category of respecting its league opponents.
As JSerra has done against Mater Dei when the Monarchs began their postgame Pride Drill, the Lions left the field before Servite did its postgame Hut Drill.
It is a tradition going to the Angelus League days that teams observe the other team’s postgame tradition. Edison is not a Catholic school, but the Chargers, win or lose, respectfully hang out for the Mater Dei and Servite drills.
With Santa Margarita coming off its win last week against Mater Dei, and Orange Lutheran recovering from a final-seconds loss to Servite, it looked like Santa Margarita should have been in a better frame of mind than Lutheran.
But Lutheran pounded Santa Margarita. There was a running clock in that one for almost the entire fourth quarter.
Another game that was more one-sided than expected was The Battle for the Bell — Fountain Valley vs. Edison at Orange Coast College. Edison’s defense was good as expected, and the Chargers got their offensive going in a 24-0 win.
Edison has won nine in a row in the series. Fountain Valley is going to get better under first-year coach Ray Fenton, so that streak will end soon.
There are all sorts of bells and other trophies that are awarded to the winners in rivalry series. In Irvine, they play for the Dennis Toohey Fence Post. Irvine got the Fence Post with a dramatic, 24-20 comeback win over Woodbridge. Just as important — OK, more important than even a fence post could be — Irvine clinched second in the Pacific Coast League.
Last week, Laguna Beach running back Nathan Lancaster rushed for seven touchdowns to become one of only six players in county history to run for seven scores in a game. Mark Parsons of El Dorado joined the club Friday, rushing for seven touchdowns in the Golden Hawks’ win over Brea Olinda.
So we have many great matchups next week.
Buena Park and La Habra will be 4-0 in league when they meet. San Juan Hills and Dana Hills will be 3-0 in the Sea View League. Magnolia and Santa Ana Valley will be 4-0 when they play each other.
We can see the end of the regular season from here. Will we see the end of La Habra’s streak next week?
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
