Four first downs, 94 yards of offense.
Not a single point.
That is what the Fillmore High defense, commanded by coordinator Nathan Page, allowed in a masterclass 35-0 victory that snapped Royal’s seven-game winning streak and secured pole position for the Flashes in the Tri-County League race.
Defensive end Matthew Zavala was everywhere for host Fillmore, attacking Royal’s first offensive series with two tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
“That energy, as soon as Matthew got that first tackle for loss, that was the switch,” senior receiver Saul Fraga said. “We were like, ‘This is our game. We have to take this over today. This is our stadium, our house.’ ”
Seven games into the 2025 season, Fillmore had its own seven-game undefeated streak snapped by the eventual Tri-County League champion in Agoura.
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The Flashes, who started this season 0-2, got to experience the other side of that coin Friday.
“There is an added weight, a pressure when you are undefeated,” Fillmore head coach Charlie Weis said. “Once you have a loss or two, like we had early in the season, you can really loosen up. We learned a lot from those games; we grew from it.”
The victory was the sixth straight for Fillmore (6-2, 3-0).
The Highlanders fell to 7-1 and 2-1 in league. It was the first time Royal was held scoreless in a game since falling to Dos Pueblos, 19-0, early last season.
“This was not us,” Royal High head coach Cody MacArthur said. “This was not our game.”
Royal was unable to put together a sustained drive until late in the third quarter, when receiver Josh Salazar took a reverse 13 yards and caught a 15-yard pass from quarterback Preston Murray a few plays later to get the Highlanders into the red zone.
The Flashes secondary held up, forcing three straight incompletions as Royal threw towards the end zone before turning the ball over on downs at the Fillmore 16-yard line.
“We need to work on our blocking and our skills,” MacArthur said. “We couldn’t get our run game or our pass game going, so obviously that hurt us. Our defense couldn’t seem to make a stop when it mattered.”
Royal’s throwback Wing T offense had averaged nearly 40 points per game heading into the matchup with Fillmore, whose defensive front bottled up the potent run game.
“We just wanted to come out and play physical and fast,” Zavala said. “The other defensive linemen helped me a lot. They were slicing, (making) all the right reads and helping contain that running back, helping me get more hits on him.”
Fraga made his own contributions on the offensive side, catching a pair of touchdown passes from 12 yards and 35 yards out to cap Fillmore’s first two drives and build a 14-0 lead.
“I knew it had to be my week,” Fraga said.
The senior reeled in eight passes for 99 yards along with his two scores as the Fillmore offense did its job, capitalizing on defensive stop after defensive stop.
Running back Micah Harm made the most of his 10 carries, amassing 118 yards and two TDs, including a 34-yard flash up the left sideline that put his team up 21-0 with 3:51 to play in the first half.
He broke off another big run, this time from 35 yards out on the opening drive of the third quarter, to make it 28-0.
“He has been doing such a great job with limited touches in the last couple of games making explosive plays,” Weis said.
Quarterback Nate Perez completed 13 of 20 passes for 170 yards and three TDs — two to Fraga and a 54-yard scoring strike to Andrew Estrada.
Fillmore will continue its march to a league title with a visit to Dos Pueblos, while Royal will host San Marcos on Oct. 23.
Dominic Massimino covers football for The Star. He can be reached at dominic.massimino@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcsdominic on Twitter and Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Fillmore football snaps Royal unbeaten streak in shutout victory