La Habra Adds One Last Loss to Sunny Hills’ Difficult Season

La Habra’s defense overcame an offense marred by penalties and turnovers to beat Sunny Hills, 21-0, in a Freeway League game Thursday at La Habra High.

La Habra (9-1 overall, 5-0), which won the league title last week, registered six sacks and held Sunny Hills to nine yards.

The defeat ended a winless season for Sunny Hills (0-10, 0-5) and its first-year coach, David Fenstermaker, whose team was shut out five times, including its final three games.

“I feel nothing but pride for this team and these kids,” Fenstermaker said. “They worked hard every week.”

While praising his defense, La Habra Coach Frank Mazzotta was disappointed in other aspects. La Habra was penalized 12 times and committed two turnovers to ruin scoring chances. In addition, with the score 21-0 late in the fourth quarter, his players called a fake punt. The play resulted in a first down but prompted Mazzotta to apologize to Sunny Hills’ coaches after the game.

“We have a lot of things to work on,” Mazzotta said.

Brent West rushed for 161 yards in 19 carries and scored all three La Habra touchdowns. Mike Keeling passed for 141 yards and ran for 54.

In the first half, La Habra gained 208 total yards to Sunny Hills’ 11, but scored only twice. West keyed an eight play, 82-yard first quarter drive with a four-yard rushing touchdown. He then capped a 12-play, 69-yard drive in the second quarter with a one-yard scoring run.

The lone second-half score came midway through the fourth quarter when West scored on a 42-yard run.