High School Football game of the Week

Two tradition-rich high school football programs will square off

Friday in the Independent’s Game of the Week when the Fountain Valley

High Barons play host to the La Mirada Matadores in a nonleague clash at

Huntington Beach High’s Sheue Field.

Fountain Valley will be looking to rebound from its first loss of

the season, a 31-17 defeat at Centennial of Corona. Despite the fact that

the final score might indicate otherwise, the Baron defense gave a strong

performance.

It was a breakdown in the kicking game, and a safety, which led to

Fountain Valley’s downfall.

Centennial blocked three punts deep in Fountain Valley territory,

transformed two of them into touchdowns, converted a fumble into another

score, and recorded a safety when a snap from center sailed though the

end zone with Fountain Valley in punt formation.

The Barons can ill-afford such miscues against La Mirada, which is

strolling so far this season at 2-0.

‘La Mirada has a very good football team,’ Fountain Valley Coach

Eric Johnson said. ‘They’re good at the guard spot, and the key for us is

to be able to stop them at the run.

‘I thought our defense played well last week, considering that the

blocked punts kept our defense on the field most of the night - and deep

in our territory, at that.’

Although the defense will be keying on the run, the Fountain

Valley offense must be more productive if the Barons hope to beat a tough

La Mirada group.

In two games, Fountain Valley’s offense has scored a total of 17

points. That, in contrast to La Mirada, which has averaged 40 points in

its two games.

The defending Suburban League champion Matadores, who finished

runner-up to the Division IX title a year ago and currently are ranked

second in the latest Division VI poll, boast a solid rushing game that

features a pair of outstanding running backs.

In last week’s 41-13 win at Buena Park, Chris Rudiger ran for 147

yards and a touchdown. Rudiger took up much of the slack left by star

tailback Mike Lemon, who suffered an injury in the Matadores’

season-opening 40-0 rout of West Torrance.

Lemon is still listed as questionable for Friday’s game, according

to the La Mirada staff.

Fountain Valley will counter with its top rusher, Nedal Abdelmuti,

who has averaged six yards per carry in the Barons’ first two games.