Last season, in the Hart-Canyon regular season game, Hart had a victory all sewn up when the Football Gods decreed "Canyon shall win." Hart proceeded to have a wholly unforced fumble which Canyon recovered at the 6 and that was that.

The same thing happened tonight but this time, Karma was with Hart.

The situation: Valencia led 15-14 with about a minute to play. It was 4th and 20 at the Hart 35. Pettee threw the ball long down the left sideline. A Valencia defender went up for it and it looked to be a sure interception. But, no! He could not get quite high enough and instead tipped the ball - into the waiting arms of Hart's Michael Vairo who turned the play into a 38-yard gain down to the Valencia 27. Four plays later, Hart scored on a 14-yard pass to a wide open Brandon Arndt in the endzone. Adam Reyes took it in for 2 on the conversion and Hart led 22-15 with :21.5 left. After the kick off, Adam Reyes intercepted the Vikings' Hail Mary heave and it was Hart's victory.

Valencia shoulda/woulda/coulda won. The Vikings shoulda/woulda/coulda been blow out. Statistically, Hart was completely dominant in both halves but simply could not get it in, blowing three red-zone scoring opportunities - badly. Valencia was held almost completely in check but when the Vikings managed to climb out of a hole, they capitalized. But then the Karma thing kicked in.

As with the Canyon game two weeks ago, the fans got their money's worth.

The play-by-play.

The Valencia kicker boomed the ball into the endzone (as he did on every kickoff) and Hart started at the 20: run by Howell for 5, run by Howell for 0, run by Howell for 7, run by Howell for 3, pass to Heirshberg for 7, run by Howell for 6, run by Howell for 0, run by Pettee for 13, run by Howell for 5, pass to Arndt for 6, run by Pettee for 11, PENALTY (I'm putting the penalties in caps so that it is easy to spot their impact on the game) holding for -12 back out to the 29, pass to Michael Vairo for 29 and the TD. The PAT was good and it was Hart 7-0 at 6:21 in the first quarter.

Valencia got an 11-yard return by Vereen and started at the 31: run by Vereen for 5, incomplete, incomplete and punt.

Hart started at the 15 (no return): run by Howell for 5, pass to Vairo for 23, pass to Davis for 3, run by Howell for -1, PENALTY for illegal procedure -5, run by Howell for 2 and punt (Howell was given all night to punt; Valencia made no effort whatsoever to block or hurry the kick).

Valencia at the 22 (no return): run by Hale for 5, PENALTY illegal procedure -5, run by Vereen for -6, pass for 11 [END OF QUARTER] and punt.

Hart got no return and started at the 31: run by Howell for 0, incomplete (Arndt and Pettee weren't on the same page on this one; Pettee let it go quickly, Arndt had not turned around and the ball went whistling by his ear), incomplete and punt.

Valencia started at the Viking 32 as Vereen was swamped on the return for no gain: pass to Mulligan in the right flat, the Hart DB missed the tackle and Mulligan took it 68 yards for the TD. 7-7 at 10:32 in the second quarter.

Hart (no return) at the 20: run by Howell for 1, run by Howell for -1, incomplete and punt.

Valencia (no return) at the 44: run by Vereen for 0, run by Vereen for 1, SACK for -10 and punt.

Hart at the 29 (no return; Howell got clobbered right as he caught the punt): run by Pettee (flushed) for 0, run by Pettee for 39, run by Pettee for -5 and then a PENALTY for a late hit (a little iffy in my book) for 15 yards, pass to Davis for 6 down to the 15 [RED ZONE OPPORTUNITY!], run by Pettee for about 10 but a holding PENALTY moved the ball back to the 21, INTERCEPTION in the endzone returned to the 4 where Hart was called for a facemask PENALTY.

Valencia started at the 19: incomplete (very close to an interception by Holbrook), run by Vereen for 0, incomplete and punt.

Hart once again got no return yards and started at the Valencia 49 as Howell was nailed right after he caught the ball: SACK for -5, pass to Davis for 23, run by Pettee for 3, incomplete, incomplete, pass to Davis for 13, run by Howell for 3 down to the 4 yard line, PENALTY for holding on a run by Pettee down to the 1 so the ball was moved out to the 11; run by Howell for 2, confusion on the Hart side of the ball and PENALTY for illegal procedure -5 (now we're back out to the 14) and pass to Davis for 14 and the TD. PENALTY on the PAT moved the ball to the 1 and a half; Hart kicked again (the first missed) and Hart led 14-7 at :10.6 of the second quarter.

Valencia got 10 yards on the ensuing kickoff and then took a knee.

First half stats:

Hart: Pettee was 9 of 15, 129 yards, 2 TDs and 1 interception. He ran for 66 yards on 8 carries (and led all rushers!). Howell had 37 yards on 15 carries. Heirshberg had 1 catch for 7, Arndt had 1 for 6, Davis had 5 for 64 yards and a TD, Vairo had 2 for 52 and a TD.

Valencia: Wilbert was 2 of 6 for 79 yards and a TD; Vereen had 0 yards on 5 carries, Wilbert had 1 carry for a 10-yard loss and Hale had 1 carry for 5 yards.

Hart had 229 yards from scrimmage in the first half. Valencia had 79 yards - and 68 of those came on 1 play. Hart ran 34 plays (exclusive of punts). Valencia ran 13. Hart had 10 first downs. Valencia had NONE. Yet Hart led by only 14-7 and got the go-ahead score with 10 seconds left in the half!

Second half

Vereen had a 16-yard return on the kickoff and started at the 26: pass to London (?) for 12, run by Vereen for 6 [the first "first down" of the game for Valencia!], incomplete (grounding?), pass to Selnow for 8, run by Vereen for 21, run by Vereen for 0 run by Vereen for 1, pass to Hill for 22 down to the Hart 4 and then INTERCEPTION by Adam Reyes in the endzone (Valencia was slow getting the play in and it seemed like they were hurried getting the play off which might have been a factor in the INT).

Hart at the 20: run by Howell for 0, pass to Heirshberg for 13 (nice run after catch), run by Howell for 6, PENALTY for holding on an 11-yard run by Howell for a net 1 and a repeat of first down, run by Pettee for 0, pass to Ardnt for 4, PENALTY for illegal procedure, run by Howell for 8, run by Howell for 2, incomplete and punt.

Valencia got no return and started at the 12 by Wilbert for 2, incomplete, incomplete (both drops) and punt.

Hart got a short 2-yard return by Howell to the Valencia 47: run by Howell for 7, run by Howell for 7, run by Howell for 5, run by Howell for 2, run by Pettee for 7, run by Howell for 4 [END OF QUARTER] run by Howell for 1 down to the 12 and then on 4th down, pass to Vairo for -1.

Valencia at the 13: pass to Vereen negated by holding PENALTY for -10, run by Hale for 4, run by Wilbert for 7 (flushed), incomplete (drop) and punt.

Hart once again got no yards on the return by Howell and started at the 50: run by Pettee out of an empty backfield for 6, run by Howell for 5 (tempers starting to flair a bit here), SACK for -2, pass to Ardnt for 7, PENALTY offsides for +5, PENALTY for unsportsmanlike conduct on the Valencia bench for +15 down to the 14, run by Howell for -5, incomplete and field goal missed from 36.

Valencia at the 20: Here's the major really BAD call in the game: ball thrown down the middle of the field by Wilbert, tipped and popped off the receiver and/or Holbrook directly to Reyes - ruled incomplete; watch it on TV. Bet its an INT; pass for 8, great run by Vereen on 3rd down for 6 (Hart had him in the backfield for a loss, on the line of scrimmage for no gain, short of the first down, etc but Vereen just slipped out of all the tackles); PENALTY for holding and -17, pass to Hill for 48 (short pass, big run) and a PENALTY for facemask at the end moved the pass to the 20, pass to Mulligan for 7, incomplete, run by Hill for 1 (timeout Valencia to talk about the fourth down play), and then pass to Vereen for 12 and the TD (timeout Valencia to think about the PAT), line it up (time out Hart to figure out what their doing) line it up (time out Valencia) and 2-point conversion by Vereen around the left side. Valencia 15-14 with 2:44 left.

Hart at the 20 (no return): long throw down the field incomplete, another long incomplete and then a third long incomplete. On fourth down, Davis caught a pass short of the first down and then fought down the right sideline for about 4 more yards, a 12-yard gain and the first down; pass to Davis for 9, pass to Ardnt for 4 and the first down at the Hart 45, incomplete, SACK for -10 and then another long incomplete - and then came the Karma pass on 4th and 20 for 38 yards down the left side to Vairo for 38 yards (could easily have been an INT), run by Howell for 16 down to the11, run by Pettee for 0, run by Howell for -3 AND he didn't get out of bounds so Hart had to use its last time out, pass to Ardnt at the back, center of the endzone for a 14-yard TD. Reyes ran it in for 2 on the PAT and Hart led 22-15 with :21.5 seconds left.

Selnow got about a 15-yard return on the kickoff and Valencia started at the 30: Wilbert let one fly down the right hashmark. Adam Reyes picked it off with 15 seconds to go. Hart took a knee and it was over.

Second half stats: Pettee was 9 of 17 for 100 yards and a TD. He had 1 net yard on 6 carries including 2 sacks. Howell had 65 yards on 15 carries. Heirshberg had 1 reception for 13 yards, Arndt had 4 receptions for 29 yards and a TD. Vairo had 2 receptions for net 37 yards and Davis had 2 for 21 yards.

Wilbert was 7 of 15 for 117 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs. Vereen had 5 carries for 34 yards, Hale had 1 for 4 yards and Hill had 1 for 1 yard. Wilbert had 2 carries for 9 yards.

Overall: Pettee was 18 of 32, 229 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT. He rushed for a net 70 yards on 14 carries (including 3 sacks - someone who knows the rule for the net gains on penalty plays may have a higher total). Howell had 102 yards on 30 carries. Hart had 403 yards of offense from scrimmage.

Wilbert finished the night at 9 of 21 for 196 yards, 2 TDs and 2 INTs. He ran for -1 yard on 3 carries. Vereen had 34 yards on 11 carries. Hale had 10 yards on 2 carries and Hill had 1 yard on 1 carry. Valencia had 241 yards from scrimmage.

It was clear from the outset that Hart had adopted a "cram down", run-oriented philosophy on offense. In fact, Hart inserted some new plays just for that purpose. Only one problem with that approach: the new plays (and I knew what they were in advance) would have worked WONDERFULLY - if Valencia had been running a 3-4 defense (which I gather they have done in earlier games). They didn't. They ran a 4-3 which was the perfect defense to counter the new running set ups. Yet Hart persisted in running those plays. Ugh.

Then there was the play-calling on the last series. Last week against Canyon, Hart got the ball with 2 minutes left in the first half and 2 timeouts and proceeded to run plays as if there was no time left. It was fatal. Hart went three and out and Canyon scored just before half in what turned out to be the turning point.

Hart did much the same thing here, getting the ball with 2:44 left and 2 timeouts and then went long and incomplete, even longer and incomplete and long again incomplete. A fourth down pass with a great 3 or 4 yard run after the catch by Michael Davis for the first down saved the day. Then and a couple of short plays for a first down. I liked it. Then back to panic mode: incomplete long, sack and incomplete long again and then on 4th and 20 another very long pass that probably should have been an "inc" or "int" but instead was a 38-yard gain. At this point there was a minute left and Hart had only one timeout and RAN the ball on three consecutive plays. I guess there was redemption on the TD to Arndt primarily because I was SURE it was going to Ardnt (as I think Valencia was) and equally SURE it would be a fade to the corner. Instead, Ardnt faked left and then went right across the back of the endzone and was wide open. I was as surprised as the DB.

The cautiousness and predictability of Hart inside its own 20 and the opponent's 20 is very curious. When Hart gets inside the 10, the Indians seem a little lost. Note that all three scores tonight came from farther out; indeed, AFTER Hart got backed outside the 10 on either a penalty or a tackle for a loss. How much time do the Indians spend trying to perfect the shorter yardage plays in the red zone? They got stopped three times tonight and once last week. There seems to be a converse problem at the other end of the field with an unusually large number of 3 and outs when Hart is behind its own 20. The kicking game continues to cause a lot of gray hair. I'm not sure when the PAT/FG part of the game got so nerve-wracking. It wasn't that way earlier in the season. A little more practice and a little less nerves and that should come around. The capability for perfection in PATs and short FGs is there if the Indians just put it together.

On the plus side, Alex Pettee's passing is getting sharper every week. He's spreading the ball around well to a lot of different receivers and to a lot of different places all over the field. The receivers are catching the ball VERY well over the last three games. And, as has been a common occurrence over my 21 years of watching Hart, the run after catch yardage is starting to climb (take a look at Maxpreps; the average for the Hart receivers as a group is very impressive).

The defense was spectacular in the first half except for one play which was a missed tackle by a usually solid-tackling DB. But for one big pass (with more missed tackles) and one horribly wrong call by the refs on what should have been an INT, the defensive domination in the second half would have been equally impressive.

One or two final thoughts: I am a STAR. The Valencia cheerleaders put up a sign along the fence directed specifically at me ("Welcome Mr. ----- aka Hart Dad, We love you"). While I appreciate the kudo and the sentiment, I'm not sure I believe it.

And I loved the Valencia poster that said "My dad went to Hart but he sent me to Valencia" which immediately prompted the thought "Because there was no room at Bowman?" [Bowman is a "continuation" school in the Hart District.] Laugh. It's funny.

One last note: Hart fans, primarily students "stormed" the field when the game was over. That's a major faux pas at an away game. It's Valencia's house. A little more respect is in order. Second: students, cut out the "Bull- - - -" chant when you don't like a call. It's crass. It's classless. And more importantly, you were wrong most of the time tonight.

Next week: Golden Valley. (Since the Valencia fans insist on calling Hart "Newhall High" what do they call Golden Valley and West Ranch?)

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