On Friday night, October 14, YLHS Spirit Week culminated at the Mustangs versus Aztecs varsity football game.  The whole week leading up to the game, both schools were building up hype among students.  In addition, the schools were neck to neck in the canned food drive competition, creating even more tension.  Students were going at it on Twitter, trash talk was everywhere, but all debates were settled at the showdown on Friday night.

Prior to the game, YLHS held a pep rally in the gym.  Students had their faces painted and cool headbands were handed out.  ASB, Cheer and Song, Band, and Dance Company all pumped up the Stable and taught the students cheers to shout during the game.  After the rally, all of the students walked over to the stadium which was decorated on each side according to the appropriate school.  The Mustangs were home; the Aztecs were away.

At about 7 p.m., the Mustangs won the coin toss, decided to defer, and the game was under way.  On their first possession, Esperanza quickly went four and out with the Mustang defense shutting them down.  The Mustangs then took over on offense, and on their first possession, with 6:55 left in the first quarter, quarterback Luke Wilson threw a touchdown to wide receiver Luke Adams for the first points of the football game.  The Stable went absolutely crazy.  Kicker Cole Magliano easily knocked through the extra point and it was 7-0 Mustangs.

After the kickoff, the Aztec offense continued their slow start with their second four and out in a row.  Again, the Mustang offense took over and went to work, churning out yards.  The drive ended in a perfectly executed back-shoulder fade touchdown to wide receiver Ricky Lane from 4 yards out, putting YLHS up 14-0 within the first ten minutes of the game.

Unfortunately, towards the end of the first quarter, Yorba Linda linebacker Blake Smith suffered an apparent injury to his knee, and he exited the game to receive medical attention.

In the first half of the second quarter, Esperanza managed to drive down the field and kick a 17 yard field goal, lessening the Mustang lead to 14-3.  However, from then on, the game would be all Mustangs.  With 4:21 left in the first half, Luke Wilson kept the ball and took off down the field for a 51 yard gain.  YLHS running back Jayden Webb finally punched in a 1 yard touchdown with 1:10 remaining in the second quarter.  The Mustangs held a comfortable 21-3 lead heading into the third quarter.

After the halftime show by YLHS band and color guard, the game continued.  Throughout the entire second half, the Mustangs completely dominated.  One minute into the third quarter, Wilson again connected with Ricky Lane for an impressive 69 yard touchdown.  Running back Kyle McManus added another touchdown, and wide receiver Ronnie Coates capped off the rout with the final touchdown of the game.
The final score was 42-3 in favor of Yorba Linda.  Star players of the game were quarterback Luke Wilson who threw four touchdowns, and wide receiver Ricky Lane who caught two of them.  To put icing on the cake, the Mustangs also won the canned food drive, edging out the Aztecs by about 44,000 cans to 40,000.  ASB sophomore class president Lauren Bui (10) was super happy with how everything turned out, saying that

“ASB worked really hard to prepare for the game and run the canned food drive, and it really showed in [the Stable’s] school spirit during the game and the results of the food drive.”  

AJ Song (10) also proudly asserted that

“our team is way better than Esperanza’s.  We proved our superiority over their school as we won both the canned food drive and the football game itself.”  

The Yorba Linda Mustangs were the victors in this year’s Battle of the Boulevard.