Soren Halladay

Soren Halladay still is regarded by many long time fans as one of the best all-around players to ever play at Hart.

He started both ways both his junior and senior years and surely would have been a starter as a sophomore but for the CIF "15-year old" rule which prohibited kids from playing on varsity until they reached 15 (the rule has since been abolished). With a late November birthday, he was not eligible as a sophomore until the very last playoff game of the previous year.

As a wideout Soren was, in my view, the single best "game day" receiver that has every played at Hart. He never in my recollection dropped a catchable pass. (Interestingly, it has been reliably reported to me that he sometimes had "hands of stone" in practice.) He was reasonably fast but got most of his yards after the catch simply by being stronger and bigger than most defensive backs.

The coaches still use films of Soren's spectacular blocking (several pancakes) as examples for the new kids on how things should be done at wide receiver.

He was a killer on defense, starting at strong safety and essentially functioning as a fourth linebacker. He lead the team in tackles.

Finally, he also was the punter.

He went on to play at BYU with modest success as a starting wide receiver. I always thought the BYU coaches made a big mistake not keeping him on the defensive side of the ball. He'd of been a killer free safety.

John McLaughlin

John McLaughlin as a high school kid was huge: 6'4." He was big: about 220+. He was fast: he was the Foothill 100 meter champion. He was agile: he went to the Southern Section Championships in the high jump.

As a junior, he was all-league cornerback, surely the biggest corner in the Southern Section.

As a senior, he started both ways, as a wide receiver (with good, not necessarily great hands) and outside linebacker. He also returned kicks including about a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown (the only one I can recall). Despite all his contributions to a very successful Hart team, John was not on the all-CIF team.

He was however, as highly recruited or even more, so than Soren Halladay. He signed with Notre Dame and played some as a freshmanas a defensive end and then transferred to Cal where he started as a DE.

He was drafted and played for a couple of seasons with Tampa Bay, largely on special teams.

Mike Kocicka

At the end of 1992, the quarterback situation at Hart was very unsettled. The kid who quarterbacked the JV team two years before (a senior do be) did very well but was small and did not have a big arm. The QB from the JV team (a junior to be) also had done well and clearly was varsity QB material but his family was leaving for North Carolina.

It looked like Soren Halladay would be converted from a wide receiver and strong safety to quarterback. This was not a preferred course of action as Soren was a spectacularly good player at WR and SS, great hands, great routes, strong, reasonably fast, a ferocious tackler and devasting blocker. Making him quarterback would have kept him off of the defense.

It looked like Hart had little choice so Soren, with some reluctance, worked out as QB during the winter and spring. About that time, rumors began to surface that a kid with great QB potential was going to transfer to Hart. And sure enough, as soon as school started in the winter, Mike Kocicka (pronounced Co SEE kah) showed up.

"Potential" , wholly unrealized, was the operative word. Mike had been a backup junior QB at Crescenta Valley the previous season (the team that beat Hart in the 1992 playoffs). He had rarely seen the field and was not well-regarded by his coach who ran a ball-control, run-oriented offense and who apparently saw Mike as a bit of a malcontent.

Mike's background is of interest. He was born in what was then Soviet-controlled Czechoslovakia. His parents escaped and moved to the US. They knew nothing about football but Mike gravitated to it any way. His dad enrolled Mike in quarterback classes down in Orange County taught by none other than Bob Johnson, now the Mission Viejo coach. As related to me by Mike's dad, Johnson suggested that Mike's family move to Santa Clarita so that Mike could go to Hart, a school known for passing. The family moved to the SCV.

When Kocicka showed up for the spring and summer practices, he was immediately accepted by the other kids. Soren Halladay, in particular, was thrilled. He could now play both offense and defense. It was clear from day one that Kocicka had a really big arm but that was about all he arrived with. I recall one of the kids betting him that he couldn't throw a pass 50 yards from his knees. Mike got on the 50-yard line on his knees and let it fly -- well past the goal line. Like I said: big arm.

Mike Kocicka who had never started a varsity game before and who had almost no prior experience made all-CIF, got a ride to UNLV, was unhappy and transferred to Virginia Tech where he was the backup QB.

Teddy Iacenda

Teddy Iacenda, only a sophomore, was clearly a force and had a great career still ahead of him at Hart.