My theory expressed earlier this week is that very athletic teams such as St. Bonaventure have the advantage early in th season but it tends to diminish as the season progresses. My theory proved out tonight. While Bonnie has a lot of great athletes and a great deal more speed than Hart, the sheer tenacity/ferocity of the Hart defense and the solid play of the offense, in particular the line, carried the day.

I also noted earlier in the week that in the first game, it was turnovers and too many kids playing both ways plus a special teams lapse that did in Hart. This time around, Hart had no turnovers and Bonnie had two which were absolutely fatal. Hart has only a couple of kids that are playing full-time both ways and it really showed up in the play on both the offensive and defensive lines where Hart had the edge. Special teams were largely a non-factor but certainly could have been. A snap on a punt was launched over Howell's head and by a miracle and a lot of luck, he somehow ran back to the goal line, retrieved it and got off a punt for about a 13-yard net.

The Hart defense was superb throughout the game, giving up only one big play at a time when it really counted (which, unfortunately, is sort of a habit - gets the heart rate up for us old guys). The kids on the defensive side of the ball played with fury. Fourteen defensive points? I cannot think of the last time that happened. Oh yeah. I remember. It was a month ago when Arndt intercepted a pass and returned it for a TD and a receiver was stripped of the ball and the Hart defender returned it for a TD. Of course, that was against Golden Valley. It was a fatal shock to St. Bonnie and a delight to the Hart faithful today.

On offense, Hart's line was very impressive. Bonnie has really had Hart's number the past three games, getting a ton of sacks and really pounding on the quarterback. Today -- not a single sack. On a couple of occasions, Pettee had in the neighborhood of 7 seconds to throw! The one time it looked like they had him, he got rid of the ball as he was going down -- for a completion.

The most impressive thing about the offense was the almost magical ability to sustain long drives and convert, repeatedly on 3rd and long and on fourth down. And NO turnovers, another stunning turnaround!

Special teams remain an adventure. Hart's first PAT barely, and I mean, barely squeaked over the crossbar. As noted above, a long snap sailed way over Howell's head yet he managed not only to get to the ball before any St. Bonnie players (it was looking like a sure TD or safety for Bonnie) but he also got the punt away cleanly. Then on the second Hart TD, late in the fourth, Mendenhall really smacked it through with authority, then put the kickoff into the endzone, smacked another PAT, another kickoff into the endzone --but alas, missed the final PAT try. Most importantly, Hart contained the Bonnie kickoff and punt return teams.

A tribute to Bonnie: before the season began, some said Bonnie was down a little this year. It must have been true. Bonnie lost TWO games this season. I don't know when that last happened but it had to have been before 1999. This is the first time in this century that Bonnie will not be be in a championship game. Since moving up to the current division in 2002, Bonnie has lost just 5 games - Hart in 2002, Westlake in 2003 and Lakewood 2004 and Oaks earlier this season and of course, Hart today. Prior to 2002, the Seraphs had a 43 game winning streak and was the D-11 champ at 3 consecutive years. Jon Mack has built a great program of which he, the players and the supporters can be proud.

So here's the detail:

Hart took the opening kickoff and started at the 20: Incomplete on a long pass down field, run by Howell on a pitch for 2, pass to Howell (arguably a long lateral) for 9, a trick play (hand off to Howell, pitch back to Pettee and a long pass down field) went incomplete but Bonnie was called for a PENALTY, roughing the passer for +15 for Hart. Run by Howell for 3 (nice surge by the offensive line), run by Howell for 7, run by for 4, run by Pettee for -4 (he slipped or was tripped up by a Hart lineman), PENALTY for illegal procedure; pass to Howell along the sideline that was barely over a defender and in front of another for 14 and then on fourth down and 1, a run by Howell out of the shotgun for 0.

SB at the 29: run by Lee for 3, run by Lee for 0, incomplete and punt.

Hart at the 34: a nice swing pass to Howell was negated by a PENALTY for holding by a receiver -10, run by Howell on a draw for -1, pass to Vairo for 10 (Pettee had forever to throw), incomplete (again a ton of time) and punt.

St. B at the 24: run by Hall for 2, pass to Serna for 15, run by Wakam for 7 plus an additional 5 for a facemask PENALTY, incomplete (almost intercepted by Howell), run by Lee for 14, incomplete, pass to Irby for 5, run by Lee for 4, run by Lee for 3, pass to Hall for -3 (Luster smoked that one out very early and had a shot for an interception), run by Lee for 3, incomplete and a field goal attempt from 38 missed.

Hart at the 20: run by Howell for 9 [END OF QUARTER], run by Pettee on a sneak for 3, run by Pettee for 3, incomplete (tipped at the line of scrimmage), pass to Vairo for 4 (it got the Hart fans really fired up for what appeared to be a fairly obvious late hit out of bounds among the Hart players and coaches, temporarily putting Vairo out of the game) and punt.

St. Bonnie at the 36: run by Hall for -14 (headed left and then right then back), run by Lee for 12, pass to Wakam for 14, pass to Wakam for -3 (or another long lateral), run by Lee for 3, SACK for -2 and punt.

Hart at the 15: run by Howell for 8, run by Howell for 2, incomplete, pass to Howell for 10 (another questionable hit out of bounds), run by Pettee for 1, run by Pettee for 5, PENALTY for illegal procedure, pass to Vairo for 15, pass to Davis for 5, run by Pettee for 5, pass to Arndt for 17, run b Howell for 1, incomplete, incomplete, run by Pettee for 18 after being flushed on 4th down and run by Howell for 3 and the touchdown. I commented in my pre-game thoughts that Pettee has really been spreading the ball around VERY well. This series was the perfect example. He completed 4 of 7 passes. He threw to six different receivers (only Arndt had two thrown his way). His completions were to 4 different receivers. Hart 7-0 with :47 left in the half.

St. Bonnie got an 8-yard return and started at the 23: run by Lee for 2, run by Lee for 17 and SACK for -10 to end the half.

Statistically it was very much a "defensive" half. Pettee was 9 of 15 for 90 yards. He rushed for 31 yards on 7 carries. Howell had 38 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown. Total yards: 159.

Macarena was 5 of 9 for 29 yards. Lee had 61 yards on 10 carries. Hall had -12 on 2 carries, Wakam had 7 yards on 1 carry and Macarena had -12 on 2 carries. Total yards: 73.

Neither team had a play as long as 20 yards.

I don't have the exact time of possession but Bonnie had the ball only about 3 minutes or less in the second quarter.

(Note: At this point in the September Bonnie blowout it was 21-0 Bonnie and Hart had 4 turnovers. Pettee was 7 of 18 for 78 yards and had 1 INT. Hart had 37 net yards rushing because of 2 sacks. SB's QB was 5 of 15 for 41 yards, 2 TDs and an INT. SB rushers had 121 yards on 17 carries. What a difference a couple of months make.)

Second Half.

St. Bonnie got a 9-yard return to the 20: run by Lee for 1, run by Lee for 54 (the big screwup of the night for the Hart defense), run by Hall for 2, run by Lee for 8, run by Lee for 6 and run by Irby on a reverse for 9 and the touchdown. 7-7 at 9:05 of the third quarter.

Hart at the 20: run by Howell for 8, run by Pettee for 0, run by Pettee for 2, run by Howell for 5, run by Howell for 5, incomplete, run by Howell for 1, incomplete and punt.

SB got a 15-yard return and started at the 38: run by Lee for 0, incomplete, run by Lee for 3 and punt.

Hart at the 22: pass to Howell for 4, pass to Davis for 4 (on a spectacular escape by Pettee), run by Howell for -2. On the long snap to Howell the punter, the ball sailed way over his head and he chased it down at about the 1 and managed to get it away with no return.

St. Bonnie at the Hart 41: pass to Cerna for -3, run by Lee for 3 [END OF QUARTER], pass to Wakam 21 for 13, run by Lee for 23, run by Lee for 5 and the TD. St. 14-7 at 11:35 of the fourth.

Hart at the 20 (a very flat kick that went through Howell's hands and into the endzone): Incomplete (drop), pass to Ardnt for 7, incomplete, run by Howell FROM PUNT FORMATION AT THE HART 27 for 3 and the first down (THE play of the game to this point and a very gutty call by Hart), [note: the Hart backup QB, Holbrook and starting free safety, was injured on the previous punt and thus a lineman, not the regular center snapped the ball run by Howell for 13, run by Howell for -2, run by Pettee for 8, pass to Heirshberg for 6, run by Pettee for 7, incomplete (on another flea flicker), run by Pettee for 9, run by Howell for 12, run by Howell for 3, run by Howell for 3 and then, from an empty backfield and in shotgun formation run by Pettee for 9 on THIRD time Hart ran this play in the series (albeit from a different formation) -- a fake pass and then run right up the middle. Howell ran for 2 and the TD. 14-14 at 6:08 and the Hart crowd and team were on fire.

SB from the 20 (a touchback, a real rarity for Hart this season): run by Lee for 1, incomplete, INTERCEPTION by Arndt at about the 25 returned for a TD. Another authoritative kick on the PAT and it was Hart 21-14 with 5:26 left in the game.

Another touchback and St. B started at the 20: run by Lee for 26 [the injury to Holbrook earlier proved a stroke of luck for Hart here because Howell, normally a corner, was at free safety -- he caught Lee from behind, probably no one else on Hart could have done that] , run by Lee for 0, run by Lee for 1, run by Lee for 11, run by Hall for 5, incomplete, run by Lee for 3 and then, at the Hart 32, run by Hall to the right sideline where he got popped by strong safety Adam Reyes and stripped of the ball by Daniel Vasquez, a Hart defensive tackle (a small and VERY fast defensive tackle) who ran it back about 70 yards for the TD -- beating all those really fast SB guys down the field with a little blocking help from his friends. The PAT missed. Hart 27-14 at 2:18.

SB started at the 21: incomplete (arguably grounding), pass to Serna 3 for 22, pass to Irby for 15, pass to Irby for 17, incomplete, PENALTY for holding for -10 moving the ball back to the Hart 35, then incomplete, incomplete and incomplete. Hart took over on downs.

Hart: run by Howell for 2, run by Howell for 2 and game.

Second half stats: Pettee was 4 of 9 for 21 yards. He ran 6 times for 35 yards. Howell had 55 yards on 14 carries and a TD.

Macarena was 5 of 14 for 64 yards and 1 interception. Lee had 153 yard on 17 carries and a TD. Hall had 3 carries for 7 yards and a fumble and Irby had 1 carry for 6 yards and a TD. Of course, the two major stats here are the INT and the fumble, both of which were returned for TDs.

Pettee finished the night at 13 of 24 for 111 yards. He ran for 66 yards on 13 carries. Howell had 93 yards on 25 carries and 2 TDs (he also had 43 yards on 5 receptions; he had 0 return yardage).

Macarena was 10 of 24 for 91 yards and an interception. Lee had 27 carries for 214 yards and a TD. Hall had 5 carries for -5 and a fumble, Irby 1 for 6 and a TD, Macarena 2 for -12 and Wakam 1 for 7.

Hart's first half defense got Hart in the position to win, the offense got enough yards to keep the game tied and the Hart defense at the end was magnificent with two scores.

A couple of fun facts: Hart longest play of the day from scrimmage was Pettee's 18-yard run on fourth down just before the first Hart TD. Hart's longest play of the day was the 70-yard fumble return by Vasquez. Who'd a thunk it?

Next week: Revenge, chapter two -- we go back to Moorpark.

Return to Main Page