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The two most interesting games in 1985 probably were the first game against Canyon and the quarterfinal game against Santa
Barbara.
The season opener against Canyon was Jim Bonds' first start as varsity quarterback. He had an unbroken string of success
at Hart up to that point. As a freshman quarterback, he was 7-0 until he broke his leg and was sidelined for the remainder
of the season. He was 10-0 as a JV, passing for 1695 yards and 20 touchdowns.
In the Canyon game, Bonds learned all about the Cowboys "psycho" defense. Surely, this was one of the more
exciting games between the two schools. Hart kicked off and Canyon fumbled the ball away. Hart didn't move it much and kicked
a field goal to take an early 3-0 lead. After a lot of grudging back and forth, Canyon finally scored to take a 6-3 lead
with :31 seconds left in the half.
That was the scoring for the day. "Turnover" was the key word for both teams. The teams combined for a total
of 11 turnovers.
Hart -- oh so painfully -- was stopped on the 6-inch line as time expired. Bonds finished the day at 8 of 21, 2 interceptions,
64 yards and no touchdowns.
Santa Barbara and Hart: The Brawl Bowl
The other game of note in 1985 was the Santa Barbara playoff game. Any kid who has been on the Hart varsity since that time
probably knows about this game.
This was the second game between the two teams in 1985. Santa Barbara won the first meeting (the second game of the
year) on its home turf.
The return match was at COC in the rain. It clearly was a grudge match and a lot of words were exchanged throughout the
game. Hart sacked the Santa Barbara quarterback to end the game and he didn't take too kindly to the hit. He came up swinging.
It didn't take too long before most of the players were involved. Then the coaches got into the melee (Hmm, who are those
three guys from the Hart side who look so much alike?). Then the fans jumped in.
There are some great film clips of this brawl which are instructive about remembering to keep one's cool. Hopefully,
I'll be able to add the clip to this site.
Some earlier Hart History
Football was a very big deal in the SCV in 1985. Canyon was still in the midst of its 46-game winning streak (still the longest
in Southern California!) and headed toward their third consecutive championship in the "Conference" equivalent of
Division 2.
The Herringtons were all assistants to Rick Scott. Mike was a varsity assistant. Rick was the head JV coach and Dean
was his assistant.
Although it was before my time here in the SCV, Hart had already established a reputation as QB High. Dean Herrington,
youngest of the Herrington brothers had been an all-CIF quarterback at Hart in 1981. Tom Bonds, older brother of Jim had been
all-CIF quarterback in 1983 and lead the team to a 12-2 record and the "Coastal Conference" CIF championship with
wins over Oxnard, Newbury Park, West Torrance and North Torrance.
All-CIF Performers
Jim Bonds at quarterback, John Libby at linebacker and Charlie Drake at tackle earned all-CIF honors.
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