La Habra Passes League Test
La Habra Coach Rick Milhizer was not being facetious when he declared the Freeway League opener against Sunny Hills “the most important game we’ve played since I’ve been here.”
The Highlanders were off to a 5-0 start, their best in his five-year tenure. They were the only unbeaten team entering Freeway League play. But their schedule would not be considered tough.
Sunny Hills, a preseason favorite to win the league title, would provide a proper litmus test. The Lancers were among the county’s top defensive teams, giving up an average of seven points per game.
The Highlanders did more than pass their first real test of the season. They aced the exam with a 13-0 victory in front of 4,000 at La Habra.
La Habra improved to to 6-0, 1-0..
“I’ll be the first to say our preleague schedule wasn’t exactly murderers’ row,” Milhizer said. “But Sunny Hills is a good football team. I think tonight we showed we can play with good football teams.”
Quarterback Robert Morales completed a two-yard touchdown pass to Nick Armstrong with 4 minutes 5 seconds left in the third quarter for the Highlanders’ first score of the game.
But the backbreaking blow came with five minutes left in the game. On a third down and 10 from the Highlanders’ nine-yard line, Morales lobbed a pass down the right sideline to Paul Summers, who had a step on his defender.
Summers, a senior in his first year of varsity football, caught the ball on his 33 and did not stop running until he made it to the end zone.
“It’s a play we put in at halftime,” Summers said. “Coach Milhizer said to use it if we saw them in man-to-man coverage. When Robert spotted it, he called an audible at the line of scrimmage.”
Being shut out was not a total shock for the Lancers. Scoring--or the lack of it--has been the key reason they are 3-3, 1-1. Sunny Hills is averaging fewer than 15 points per game.
“Our biggest downfall has been the mental mistakes,” Sunny Hills Coach Tim Devaney said. “We get inside [the opponent’s] 20 and then we don’t do the things we need to for points.”
A case in point was the Lancers’ last possession in the first half. On third down from the La Habra 34, quarterback Chris Zeiler had to absorb a 14-yard sack by Tom White. That cost them a possible field-goal attempt.