Nobody other than themselves thought that Vista del Lago would be 3-0 and sitting atop the Sierra Valley Conference.

But that’s right where the Eagles are heading into Saturday’s non-league home game against McClatchy. Though it’s not a league game, Saturday’s contest is an opportunity to improve and that’s how the team is looking at it.

“It’s different to have a non-league game thrown in there at week seven, but we haven’t played our best game yet and this is another opportunity for us to try and do that,” Vista coach Chris Jones said. “For us it’s a great chance for us to get ourselves better. It’s an opportunity for us to continue to develop and improve and that’s how we’re approaching it.”

McClatchy enters the game with a 2-4 record and is a team that Vista defeated last year for one of their two wins, 41-12. The Eagles aren’t overlooking the Lions, but at the same time, anything they can do to work on things they could use the following week against Oak Ridge will be done. The game against the Trojans, currently sitting behind the Eagles in the Sierra Valley Conference with a 2-0 record, will be the team’s biggest game to date.

The Eagles are coming off a big 35-13 win over Ponderosa on Friday. Vista broke open a 14-7 game at halftime in the third quarter and finished the Bruins off in the fourth.

While the offense put up the points, the defense played their best game of the season, holding the Bruins to only 13 points, six coming on the game’s final play on a long touchdown run.

“The best thing was I loved the way the defense played and I loved the way we tackled,” Jones said. “It’s awesome when your kicker (Scott Fukui) kicks the ball in the end zone every time and your defense plays their tails off. It was our best defensive game of the season.”

Trey Hairabedian had another outstanding game, rushing for 143 yards and four scores. Anthony Mull completed 15 passes, 12 to Nick Grunsky, for 153 yards and one touchdown. Grunsky racked up 110 receiving yards and a score.

Vista led a tight game 14-7 at halftime, but got the ball for its second possession at the Ponderosa 27-yard line after the defense pinned the Bruins down on their own 10-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Trey Hairabedian scored on a 27-yard touchdown run and Fukui’s extra point made it 21-7.

Vista moved the ball down to the Ponderosa 1-yard line on its next drive, only to fail on a pass play on fourth down. On Ponderosa’s first play from scrimmage, Vista’s Nick Grunsky intercepted the ball at the 25-yard line. Five plays later, Hairabedian took it in from three-yard line and Fukui’s extra point made it 28-7.

On the first play of Ponderosa’s next drive, Vista forced a fumble that Tyler Weber recovered at the 5-yard line. Hairabedian scored on the ensuing play and Fukui’s extra point finished Vista’s scoring at 35.

Hairabedian also scored once in the first quarter on a 3-yard run, while quarterback Tyler Mull threw a 30-yard touchdown to Grunsky on a fourth-and-six play in the second quarter for Vista’s other score.

“I thought we played well at times offensively, but we had a few more negative plays than what we had in previous games,” Jones said. “We had ourselves in second-and-long and third-and-long situations and there’s only so many of those you can overcome in a game.”

Things didn’t go so well for the Vista junior varsity team, which lost 36-0.