ORANGEVALE, Calif. — Before schedules start to shift to league play, week four of the high school football season features some can't miss matchups. That includes the highly anticipated rematch of the Sac-Joaquin Division Five Championship game.
Last November, the Casa Roble Rams defeated the Twelve Bridges Raging Rhinos 23-22 on a game-winning two point conversion at Hughes Stadium. Naturally, the Rhinos are itching for a chance at some payback. Rams head coach Chris Horner is expecting it.
"It sounded like a great idea scheduling them at the preseason...and now I'm (thinking) maybe we shouldn't have done this. Because I know the minute we did that, they went back and that's the bulletin board material. They have this (game) circled in sharpie," Horner said.
Coach Horner appears to have a good read on his opponents. Twelve Bridges senior captain Raiden Podulka said this is a must-win game.
"This game has been circled, at least for me and probably all returning seniors, this has been circled. We need to win this game," Podulka said.
"We need to hit hard, hit fast and definitely get our revenge against Casa," added senior running back Braeden Ward.
Even though they know the Rhinos are coming, the Rams know it's all in the spirit of competition.
"I don't know if we have bad blood or not, but I feel like we're all pretty cool and it's going to be a really good game," said senior receiver Ethan Horner, son of coach Chris Horner, who caught the game-winning two point conversion in the section title game.
Both the Rams and Rhinos lost a large group of seniors to graduation this past spring. 25 total players for Twelve Bridges, who despite the turnover, are off to another impressive 3-0 start, including a victory over the SFL's Whitney High School.
"To be 3-0 right now, with a group of kids that are finding out how talented they can really be... I'd say we're exceeding expectations," said head coach Chris Bean.
Kickoff for Friday night's game is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. from Casa Roble High School.
WATCH ALSO:
