La Habra-Fullerton: It’s time these Freeway rivals played each other

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Third-seeded Fullerton (9-3) and La Habra (12-0) are excited about playing each other. The two shared the Freeway League title because they didn’t play this season. Their game was canceled because of Southern California wildfires. Although Troy beat Fullerton in league, Troy later forfeited -- thereby making Fullerton undefeated in league.

That gave the Indians a share of the league title with unbeaten La Habra, and then Fullerton won a coin flip to determine the league’s first-place playoff entry -- even though La Habra was ranked No. 1 in the Southeast Division.

‘It’s a big deal,’ said Frank Mazzotta, La Habra’s coach, of the teams getting a chance to play each other. ‘Both teams want to settle it.’

Southern Section guidelines stipulate that a second-place team can’t be seeded higher than a first-place team from the same league, so La Habra came into the playoffs unseeded, but it was placed in the top bracket, where it faced top-seeded San Gabriel in the second round and scored a 59-14 victory.

‘It’s fitting that it’s them and us,’ said La Habra quarterback Chris Morales, who has guided the Highlanders past their playoff opponents by a margin of 158-21. ‘We missed that week. Now we’re in the championship and we’ll see what happens.’

Fullerton, which lost on the field to Troy, 22-20, has four shutouts this season, and will need a strong defensive stand against La Habra, which came from behind in the final minutes to beat Troy, 29-22.

Kickoff is Friday night at Cal State Fullerton.

-- Martin Henderson

-- Image from www.sundquisthomes.com