By: Jake Novy

The Hamilton Huskies will look to complete a third consecutive undefeated season and extended their unbeaten streak to 50 games on Friday night when they host the Corona del Sol Aztecs in both team’s regular season finale.  The Huskies, who haven’t tasted defeat since September 12^th, 2008 versus Centennial, won their 49^th straight game and improved to a perfect 9-and-0 on the season with a 44-14 victory at Basha last Friday.  Not only are the Huskies unblemished, but they are doing it in an impressive and dominant fashion.  Hamilton has allowed less than 100 total points on the season and has fired up close to 400 points on the offensive end.   The Huskies’ explosive offensive attack is led by a pair of seniors in quarterback Blake Kemp and University of Washington commit Kendyl Taylor.  Kemp is averaging about 200 yards passing per game, while Taylor has a nose for the end zone whether it is through the air, on the ground or his electric speed and agility in open space of the return game.

Meanwhile, Corona del Sol kept its playoff hopes alive with a come-from-behind 36-33 win over Mesquite last week.  Senior running back Dominic Mercurio returned after a one-game absence due to a concussion to rack up 217 yards via the ground with three scores to help the Aztecs snap a two-game slide and improve to 5-and-4 on the season.  CDS is an even 2-and-2 on the road this year and a win against the top-ranked Huskies would lock up a playoff spot for the Aztecs, who sit at number-14 in the power rankings.  The top 16 teams in the power rankings move onto postseason play.

This matchup could very well be a preview for a first-round playoff tilt.  If heavy favorite Hamilton takes care of business, they would lock up the top-seed in Division One and play the number-16 seed in opening round action of the postseason.  However, Corona, even with a loss, would likely only drop a spot or two to setup back-to-back matchups between the two teams, albeit a slightly more meaningful one.  An upset Aztec win on Friday night would first of all clinch a playoff berth and boost them up the power rankings, while the Huskies would likely not fall out of the top three, if at all, in the state rankings.

Hamilton and Corona have not played since September 10^th, 2004 when the Huskies routed the Aztecs, 42-7.