Sports
Football: Mission Viejo 46, La Habra 21
Defense has a big night, and Alex Suchesk and Ian Fieber do their part, too.
By Martin Henderson
The game of the night pitted the county’s two highest-ranked public schools. It turned out to be no contest.
Score: Mission Viejo 46, La Habra 21
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Key Stats: Mission Viejo began four drives on the La Habra side of the field; the Diablos turned those opportunities into 23 points.
Pivotal Moment: Mission Viejo had just converted Eric Barriere’s fumble into a 20-yard touchdown drive for a 23-7 lead, and 73 seconds later, linebacker Brayden Roesch returned an interception 26 yards for a 30-7 lead with 4:15 left in the half. La Habra was down by four possessions, and the way the night was developing, there was no way the Highlanders were going to make that up.
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Records: Mission Viejo (4-0), La Habra (3-1)
Notes: Mission Viejo was ranked No. 1 in Orange County and La Habra was No. 3, making this a battle of the county’s two highest-ranked public schools. … It was a good night for the Mission defense. It descended on La Habra’s sophomore quarterback, Eric Barriere, and forced an intentional grounding from the end zone for a safety and a 9-0 lead. Gabe Meza recovered an errant option pitch by Barriere that set up Connor Hill’s 16-yard pass reception from Ian Fieber for a 23-7 lead, and then Roesch had the interception return to make it 30-7. … Michael Mathewes recovered a fumble in the third quarter at the La Habra 23, precipitating Zach Olson’s 33-yard field goal for a 40-7 advantage on the final play of the third quarter. … Alex Suchesk scored on runs of 5 and 3 yards in the first half, the latter giving the Diablos a 16-0 lead. … Ian Fieber passed for two touchdowns, of 16 yards to Connor Hill and 10 yards to Andrew Schuurs. … For all the trouble that La Habra had, the Highlanders did put together a lengthy 12-play drive that ended with Carlos Martin’s 2-yard run to pull to 16-7, but their next two drives ended in turnovers.
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