Prep football: Mission Prep rolls past Linfield Christian a week after canceling game
The Mission Prep High School football team scored 28 points in the first quarter en route to a 49-21 victory over Linfield Christian on Friday night. The Royals canceled last week’s game due to injuries but didn’t show any signs of rust, holding the Lions scoreless until just before the first half ended. Linfield Christian beat Nipomo in last year’s CIF-Southern Section Northwest Division semifinal, before falling in the finals to Notre Dame 14-6.
Containing Burns
The Lions were battling injuries of their own, leaving senior running backs Simeon Burns and John Henry as the main threats on offense. Burns, the brother of Arizona defensive back Lorenzo Burns, had a touchdown to go with five receptions for 84 yards and 73 yards rushing on 10 attempts. While Burns racked up yards, the Royals kept him out of the end zone when it mattered. Burns’ backfield mate, John Henry, had one rushing touchdown. But he also had two fumbles, one inside the Mission Prep 5-yard line.
Mission Prep’s Dalton Strouss also recovered a high snap that went over the Linfield Christian punter’s head for a touchdown.
Corona and Miller
Brayden Corona carried the ball 30 times for 192 yards and three touchdowns as Mission Prep looked to establish the run early. That set up deep passes for quarterback Bryce Fledderman.
Angel Sanchez caught two of Fledderman’s passes, both for touchdowns, for a total of 122 yards. Corona also had three receptions for 29 yards.
Joseph Miller had a rushing touchdown, but his most important work came on the other side of the ball. He picked off an Alex Ruiz pass and helped contain both Burns and Travis Kaleimamo’oka’ala Lau in the passing game
Avoiding injuries
The Royals’ No. 1 concern coming into this game was injuries. They finished the game no worse off than they started and hope to get more players back next week according to coach Chad Henry.
What’s next
Mission Prep begins league play against Santa Maria at home next Friday at 7 p.m.
This story was originally published September 30, 2016 at 10:02 PM with the headline "Prep football: Mission Prep rolls past Linfield Christian a week after canceling game."