CARLSBAD – An unrelenting Mission Hills High School defense had four interceptions and five sacks Friday night.

The result was a 14-0 road shutout over La Costa Canyon in the Avocado West opener for both teams.

“It was all preparation,” said Mission Hills defensive back Kai Taitano. “We had an extra week to prepare. We were focused.

“The interceptions were all a result of paying attention in practice.

“We have a good secondary, and a good pass rush helps.”

La Costa Canyon (3-3), ranked No. 5 in San Diego County, was without injured sophomore quarterback Luke Labrum.

So senior Jackson Miller, who had been successfully rotating with Labrum all season, played the entire game.Miller, who had completed 27 of 37 passes coming into the game, was 9 of 26 for 55 yards.

“We didn’t help him one bit,” said LCC coach Seam Sovacool. “We dropped four passes in the first half and could have been ahead 14-0.”But we weren’t.”

The first half was scoreless until the final seconds when Jordan Herrera of Mission Hills intercepted a pass and returned 50 yards to the La Costa Canyon 12 with LCC’s Blake Larson saving a touchdown, tackling Herrera.

Ex Taele carried to the 1 on the first play. And after a loss of one, Taele took a direct snap and scored from the 2.

Both teams had chances to score in the first 24 minutes, but Mission Hills missed a 39-yard field goal and LCC failed to cash in on a fake punt pass that put the ball at the Mission Hills 31.

But a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty pushed the ball back to the 46. And LCC ended up punting.

“That was a killer,” Sovacoll said.

Mission Hills (5-1), ranked No. 3 in San Diego, made it 14-0 midway through the second half.

The Grizzlies cashed in a Taitano interception, which he returned 49 yards to the LCC 12.

It took four plays, but Mission Hills finally scored on a 6-yard pass from Furian Inferrera to Ty Reel.

Jordan Gerrera, Xavier St. John and Aiden Del Gatto had the other Mission Hills interceptions.

“I have a lot of respect for LCC,” said Mission Hills coach Thomas Altieri. “Sean Sovacoll is a great coach. His guys gave us everything we could handle. Fought us to the end.”

Neither team had eye-popping stats with Mission Hills rushing 23 times for 81 yards and Taele’s TD.

Inferrera completed 11 of 19 passes for 104 yards and a TD.

LCC rushed 32 times for 166 yards with Nate Taylor carrying 10 times for 98 yards.