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MENIFEE — La Habra’s football team showed its resolve in recovering from two painful losses in the Epsilon League to reach the CIF-SS Division 4 final.
On Saturday, the Highlanders displayed how much they learned from the setbacks.
Kevika Mata’utia-Martinez rushed for a season-high 201 yards and La Habra’s defense made three stops on fourth down as the Highlanders defeated San Jacinto 27-13 to deliver veteran coach Frank Mazzotta an Orange County-record tying eighth title.
La Habra’s Daniel Garay, center, and Josh Holm dump water on coach Frank Mazzotta after topping San Jacinto for the CIF SS DIV IV title at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee CA on Saturday, November 29, 2025. La Habra won 27-13. (Photo by James Quigg, Contributing Photographer)
La Habra’s Malcolm Roberts spins a coach in the air as the Highlanders celebrates their CIF SS DIV IV title at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee CA on Saturday, November 29, 2025. La Habra defeated San Jacinto 27-13. (Photo by James Quigg, Contributing Photographer)
La Habra’s Noah Barajas lifts the CIF title plaque after topping San Jacinto for the CIF SS DIV IV title at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee CA on Saturday, November 29, 2025. La Habra won 27-13. (Photo by James Quigg, Contributing Photographer)
La Habra’s Jacob Morales lifts Bobby Brooks into the air after Brooks scored against San Jacinto during their CIF SS DIV IV title game at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee CA on Saturday, November 29, 2025. La Habra won 27-13. (Photo by James Quigg, Contributing Photographer)
La Habra’s Aaron Castro, far left, leads the Highlanders defense off the field after he intercepted a San Jacinto pass in the fourth quarter of their CIF SS DIV IV title game at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee CA on Saturday, November 29, 2025. La Habra won 27-13. (Photo by James Quigg, Contributing Photographer)
La Habra’s Kevika Mata’Utia- Martinez breaks away from San Jacinto’s Kingslee Tivao during their CIF SS DIV IV title game at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee CA on Saturday, November 29, 2025. La Habra won 27-13. (Photo by James Quigg, Contributing Photographer)
La Habra’s Aaron Castro intercepts a pass intended for San Jacinto’s Daishaun Davis during their CIF SS DIV IV title game at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee CA on Saturday, November 29, 2025. La Habra won 27-13. (Photo by James Quigg, Contributing Photographer)
San Jacinto’s Josue Estrada grabs the snap while playing against La Habra during the first half of the CIF SS DIV IV title at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee CA on Saturday, November 29, 2025. La Habra won 27-13. (Photo by James Quigg, Contributing Photographer)
San Jacinto’s Daron Love running through La Habra’s defense during their CIF SS DIV IV title game at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee CA on Saturday, November 29, 2025. La Habra won 27-13. (Photo by James Quigg, Contributing Photographer)
La Habra’s DJ Mitchell and San Jacinto’s Jordan Bernard collide during their CIF SS DIV IV title game at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee CA on Saturday, November 29, 2025. La Habra won 27-13. (Photo by James Quigg, Contributing Photographer)
La Habra’s Kevika Mata’Utia- Martinez stomps into the end zone during their CIF SS DIV IV title game against San Jacinto at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee CA on Saturday, November 29, 2025. La Habra won 27-13. (Photo by James Quigg, Contributing Photographer)
La Habra’s Kevika Mata’Utia- Martinez aims at tackling San Jacinto’s Kingston Tivao during the first half of the CIF-SS Division 4 title game at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee CA on Saturday, November 29, 2025. (Photo by James Quigg, Contributing Photographer)
San Jacinto’s Jeremiah Brown celebrates after the Tigers picked up a fumble against La Habra during the first half of the CIF-SS Division 4 title game at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee CA on Saturday, November 29, 2025. (Photo by James Quigg, Contributing Photographer)
San Jacinto’s Jordan Bernard scores on a pass reception against La Habra during the first half of the CIF-SS Division 4 title game at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee CA, on Saturday, November 29, 2025. (Photo by James Quigg, Contributing Photographer)
San Jacinto’s Jomini Ransom gets bottled up by La Habra’s defense during the first half of the CIF-SS Division 4 title game at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee CA on Saturday, November 29, 2025. (Photo by James Quigg, Contributing Photographer)
La Habra’s Noah Barajas leads the Highlanders in their Alma Mater song after topping San Jacinto for the CIF SS DIV IV title at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee CA on Saturday, November 29, 2025. La Habra won 27-13. (Photo by James Quigg, Contributing Photographer)
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La Habra’s Daniel Garay, center, and Josh Holm dump water on coach Frank Mazzotta after topping San Jacinto for the CIF SS DIV IV title at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee CA on Saturday, November 29, 2025. La Habra won 27-13. (Photo by James Quigg, Contributing Photographer)
Mazzotta, in his 28th season at La Habra, playfully juked on the turf at HCN Bank Stadium to avoid the celebratory cooler dousing but was eventually caught.
“They’re always special. They’re always amazing,” said Mazzotta, who tied the retired Bruce Rollinson (Mater Dei) and Bob Johnson (El Toro, Mission Viejo) for most section titles for an O.C. football coach. “It’s my eighth. It’s (the players’) first, and the credit goes to the kids because they’re the ones who do all the work.”
“The one thing at La Habra, we’ve always had great kids,” the coach added. “And they’re always, always competitive, whether it’s winning league championships (or) getting into the playoffs. And then you get that one season where you can just kind of put it together and get a CIF title.”
In claiming its first section since 2015, No. 2 seed La Habra (11-3) leaned on its ground attack, offensive line and the timely play of its defense to handle San Jacinto (10-4).
La Habra’s defense highlighted a scoreless third quarter by stopping San Jacinto on a fourth-and-11 from the Highlanders 26. Defensive back Santi Bautista Cuesta broke up a pass into the end zone on the play with 4:01 left in the quarter.
The Highlanders responded by drive 74 yards on 12 plays for a 7-yard touchdown by Mata’utia- Martinez to open a 20-7 lead with 9:15 left in the fourth.
The punishing ground attack and defensive stops were missing in La Habra’s consecutive losses to Division 3 Huntington Beach and Division 2 Crean Lutheran in league.
“We have a white board that tracks all our wins and instead of a loss, we put learn on there,” said Mata’utia-Martinez, a junior who had a season-high 33 carries to cap an impressive Division 4 postseason.
“I just knew how tough we were. Even times when we had a turnover, we still battled and we stayed in the game the whole time. I’m super proud of our guys.”
La Habra defensive back Aaron Castro followed Mata’utia-Martinez’s TD with an interception at the Highlanders 3. After a long return, the Highlanders capitalized by driving for a 2-yard touchdown run by Bobby Brooks to take a 27-7 lead with 2:35 remaining.
The Highlanders rushed for 319 yards, including 88 from dual-threat quarterback DJ Mitchell, behind the line of Luis Dolphin, Noah Poppin, Julian Verduzco, Jacob Morales and Josh Holm.
La Habra employed just a handful of different running plays.
“We play as one group,” Poppin, a senior left guard, said of his line. “They couldn’t stop us. We were tougher. We were lower. We were more physical.”
La Habra’s defense, coordinated by Paul Flores, received strong play at linebacker from Barrett Blied (two tackles for loss), Noah Barajas (sack) and defensive end Luke Hedgpeth (sack) among others.
La Habra scored on its first two possessions of the first quarter en route to a 13-7 lead at halftime.
Mitchell capped a nine-play, 71-yard opening drive by lofting an 11-yard touchdown to Blake Rogers on a third-and-goal slant.
Mitchell sparked the possession with a slick, 29-yard run off a spin move in the backfield.
Mata’utia-Martinez rushed on the first four plays of the drive to a signal another high-usage game.
“He’s a monster,” Mazzotta said of Mata’utia-Martinez, who has rushed for 645 yards in four playoff games.
On its second drive, La Habra chewed up almost six minutes in marching 62 yards for a 4-yard touchdown run by Mata’utia-Martinez. The junior’s 11th touchdown of the season opened a 13-0 lead early in the second quarter. The conversion sailed wide.
La Habra maintained the momentum with a defensive stand on fourth-and-3 from its 13 in the middle of the second quarter.
But San Jacinto’s defense forced a fumble and converted with an 8-yard touchdown pass by Josue Estrada to Jordan Bernard late in the second quarter. The Tigers, however, didn’t reach the end zone again until 25 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
On Sunday around 1 p.m., La Habra will learn its opponent for the CIF Southern California Regional.