La Habra knocks out Oaks Christian, reaches Division 4 football title game

WESTLAKE VILLAGE — La Habra leaned on its defense and run game to defeat Oaks Christian 20-7 in the CIF-SS Division 4 football semifinals. La Habra ran for 255 yards in the game and the defense forced three turnovers.

The Highlanders will go for their eight section title under head coach Frank Mazzotta next week when they take on San Jacinto in the finals.

“To come up here and beat a storied program like Oaks Christian is amazing,” Mazzotta said. “They’re talented, humongous, and our little La Habra guys just came up here and played tough and we went right at it.”

La Habra was led offensively by running back Kevika Mata’Utia Martinez and quarterback DJ Mitchell, who combined for 240 of their 255 rushing yards. Mata’Utia Martinez ran the ball 29 times for 135 yards with a touchdown and Mitchell carried 18 times for 105 yards with a touchdown that came on the final play of the first half. Mitchell was also 6 of 14 passing for 64 yards and had no turnovers in the game.

“It feels great to make it all the way to the finals.” Mata’Utia Martinez said. “I can’t do anything without those five guys up front, the trenches are so important and they make every run possible.”

Coming into the game, the Highlanders defense was focused on limiting USC commit and Oaks Christian running back Deshonne Redeaux, who had 264 rushing yards in the quarterfinals last week. The Highlander defense was successful, with a lot of help from their offense sustaining long drives and keeping Redeaux off the field, as they limited him to 13 carries for 45 yards.

La Habra’s first score of the game came from the defense, when Bobby Brooks got an interception and returned it 26 yards for a score to put them up 7-0 in the first quarter. La Habra got another turnover in the first half when Mata’Utia Martinez recovered a fumble on a bad Oaks Christian handoff.

“Our defensive coordinator coach Paul Flores set up a really good game plan.” Mata’Utia Martinez said. “He just does a really good job from locking up the pass to the run.”

The lone Oaks Christian score in the game came at the end of the first half when Niko Bladow found Jaxon Sharp for a 40-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 7-7. Bladow was 9 of 16 for 94 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions in the game.

Oaks Christian struggled to get going in the second half, only running seven offensive plays the whole half and not completing a pass in the half until there three minutes to go in the game. Mata’Utia Martinez scored on a 3-yard run for La Habra to cap off a 13-play drive with under four minutes left in the game.

La Habra also had a 14-play drive in the third quarter where they were unable to score. The final offensive play for Oaks Christian was an Aaron Castro interception for La Habra to seal the victory and give them the ball back with a little over two minutes to go in the game.

Oaks Christian ends its season with a second-place finish in the Marmonte League and a 6-7 record, after starting the season 1-5.

“The word to describe this group is resilience, to make it this far after being 1-5 speaks to that.” Oaks Christian coach Charles Collins said. “This team never quit and I’m proud of them.”