While La Serna is excited about the opportunity to take on Orange Vista of Perris in Friday’s CIF State Southern California Regional 2-AA championship at California High School, finding that next gear again is somewhat challenging.

La Serna realized its main goal of the season last week by beating Corona del Mar, 49-29, to win the CIF Southern Section Division 4 title, the school’s third title overall and first since 2013.

The Lancers were still enjoying the memory of Saturday night’s victory when on Sunday they learned their opponent for the state playoffs, and had to start getting ready for another game five days later.

“So, reflecting on that, in addition to the formidable threat Orange Vista poses, there is a challenge that lies within ourselves,” La Serna coach Andy George said of preparing for the state playoffs. “It’s mentality draining to give everything you have week in and week out and everything possible to achieve your goal, and we achieved our goal.”

“Our goal was to win a CIF championship, we did that, and you can never take it away,” George said. “But now that it’s over, I think our guys have taken a step back, taken a big breath, and they’re saying, we can do this again. The challenge is maintaining that focus and relentless drive to do it all over again.”

The matchup that will be shown live on Spectrum News 1 on Friday at 7 p,m.

Orange Vista (11-3) dominated on its way to the CIF-SS Division 5 title, much the same way La Serna (11-3) dominated the Division 4 bracket.

La Serna won every playoff game by 21 points or more and nearly averaged 50 points per game in the playoffs.

Orange Vista defeated Newbury Park 55-34 to win the D5 championship and has averaged 53 points over its last three playoff wins.

In Orange Vista’s win over Newbury Park, Sire Gaines, an Arizona State commit, rushed for 288 yards and four touchdowns, scoring on big runs of 68, 69 and 80 yards.

Orange Vista sophomore quarterback Khalil Abdul-Aziz threw for 196 yards and a touchdown and also ran for a 65-yard score. Abdul-Aziz has thrown for 3,131 yards and 31 TDs this season.

“They have some dudes,” George said of the Coyotes. “They’re fast, physical, they fly to the ball and they’re balanced on offense. We have our hands full.”

Gaines will be a player the Lancers have to keep their eye on after what he did in the CIF-SS championship game.

“He’s an incredible athlete,” George said. “He’s fast, physical and tough to bring down. He doesn’t seem to go down with one man tackling him.”

For the Lancers, Eli Perez had two sacks in the win over Corona del Mar. Emre Law and Adrian Casto had one sack each. Castro led the team with 15 tackles.

Owen Long rushed for nearly 200 yards and scored four touchdowns, and he had 10 tackles on defense.

The Lancers are trying to advance to next week’s CIF State Division 2-AA championship. The winner of Friday’s game will take on the Northern California Division 2-AA final between Grant and Rocklin.

Of the teams La Serna has played this season, George said Orange Vista reminds him of Los Alamitos, a team it lost to 25-6 early in the season.

“It’s that ability to play sound defense and execute on offense,” George said of what it will take to win Friday.