Do Johnny Ceballos and La Serna have enough?
Game is at 7:00 p.m. unless otherwise indicated
Saturday December 5
La Serna (11-2) at La Mirada (10-3)
Common Opponents:
La Serna 42 Santa Fe 13, La Mirada 55 Santa Fe 6: Both teams had their way with Santa Fe. La Serna blew out the Chiefs in league play while La Mirada raided the Santa Fe trail in the first round of the playoffs.
Edge: Draw
Defense:
The Matadores pitched four shutouts and allowed just 14 points overall in league. La Mirada gave up 214 points on the season but 76 of those came in a loss to a monster known as St. John Bosco. La Serna had one shutout and allowed 263 overall and 74 in league. Both defenses are solid but the Mats at times were stifling.
Edge: La Mirada
Ground Game:
Sei-j Lauago led the Matadore rushing attack with 1212 yards as La Mirada racked up 2668 and 34 touchdowns overall. La Serna does good work on the ground as well but the numbers didn’t quite match up. The Lancers ran for 24 touchdowns and 1729 yards with Anthony Garcia leading the way with 617.
Edge: La Mirada
Passing Game:
La Mirada can throw it with Tristan Meyer (1700 yards, 26 TD) and catch it with Micah Croom (22 receptions, 362 yards.) Croom is a D1 prospect. The Mats aired it out for over 2200 yards overall in a balanced attack. Johnny Ceballos threw for 1195 yards and 11 scores for La Serna. Jonathan Wise was his go to guy with 19 touchdowns and 362 yards. La Mirada just has great athletes.
Edge: La Mirada
Coaching:
Mike Moschetti has La Mirada in the Southeast hunt every year. After a couple of disappointing early playoff exits he has the Matadores in the Finals. Margarito Beltran was dismissed the week before the season started but La Serna didn’t miss a beat. Andy George stepped right in and with the same staff in place he guided the Lancers to the CIF Finals. La Serna is in the Southeast Finals for the fourth time in the last five years. As good as the La Mirada staff is La Serna’s coaches may get more out of their players than anybody in the division.
Edge: La Serna
Home Field:
Yes the stands will be packed and everybody in town will come out to see their beloved Matadores. La Mirada will come out pumped and ready to play. But do you really think that will bother La Serna? These guys never get rattled. The Lancers last two playoff wins were on the road against Harvard-Westlake and St. Francis. Heck technically La Serna has been on the road all year with the District Field at Cal being renovated. They’ll come to play.
Edge: Draw
La Serna can play with anybody, anytime. And make no mistake, the Lancers will play with La Mirada. The last couple of years La Mirada has slipped up, but this is La Mirada 2015 – new and improved. The Mats have seemingly been on a mission all year, especially since league play started. The Matadores haven’t been tested in the playoffs – actually they haven’t been tested since September. They will be tested here. On paper it looks like a rout. But the game isn’t played on paper and La Serna will give La Mirada all it can handle. In the end the Mats athleticism and talent wins out.
La Mirada 31 La Serna 28
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