Hart got just what it needed, exactly when the Indians needed it all night. Terrific performance by the defense. Terrific performance by the offensive line. Tyler Lyon was magnificent, playing the best game of his career. The receivers snagged everything in sight. The special teams had just about as good a night as they could have.

So here is the play-by-play.

Hart won the toss and deferred. The Hart kick went to about the 10 and was returned to the 30: Moline up the middle for 7; run by Gogerty for 2 with a big hit by Hickok to put him down; run by Gogerty for 2 and the first down; pass to Fitzgerald for 11 (on a down and out behind the linebacker and in front of the corner -- a route that MV ran one too many times at the end of the evening); run by Lockridge for 4, incomplete (knocked down on a blitz), run by Lockridge for 3, penalty for delay of game and punt from the Hart 46.

The punt was big time, too much so; very high and to the back of the end zone so Hart started at the 20: on the first play, Lyon rolled out to his right (roll outs have been very rare for Hart) and a 50-yard pass to Yudin to the MV 30; run by Howell for 6, penalty for illegal procedure, pass to Casselberry for -1, pass to Casselberry for 14 (roll right and then throw back to the left); run by Howell for 1, run by Howell for 5, penalty for delay, incomplete; 32-yard field goal. Hart 3-0 at 4:10 in the first quarter.

Mission Viejo got a 23-yard return and started at the 33: incomplete, run by Moline for 6, run by Moline for 0 and punt from the 39.

Hart got no yards on the return and started at the 31: run by Lyon for 4, run by Howell for 6 (short of the first down), run by Lyon for 1 on a sneak, run by Lyon for 2, run by Howell for 8 (kind of looked like he was running through a maze in the middle of the field) [END OF FIRST QUARTER], run for 6 by Casselberry on a slot reverse (he absolutely flattened MV's starting defensive end on the play); run by Howell for -4, pass to Wheeler for 4 and on fourth down at the 40, Howell took off to the right, Lyon pitched it to him, Howell stopped, pitched it back to Lyon (sort of a flea-flicker variant) and Lyon threw it to a wide open Embree for the TD (in the video clip on Fox after the game, one could almost hear the MV DB say "oh s---!" when he realized what was happening, turned and tried to catch up to Embree). Hart 10-0 at 9:23 in the second.

MV got a 20-yard return to the 27: run by Moline for 9 (the announcer stated: "short gain for Moline" -- that's not far from the truth), pass to Konrad Reuland for 32 (longest play of the night for MV); run by Lockridge for 3 plus a "little" face mask at the end; run by Moline for 9 down to the Hart 14, run by Moline for -3, run by Toman for 5 after he was flushed, then on 3rd down -- the nemesis of Hart in too many situations -- on great coverage, Toman was flushed and ran, straight up the middle and scored. Hart 10-7 at 5:38.

Hart started at the 20: On the first play, the exchange between Lyon and Howell went awry and the ball ended up on the ground. MV recovered at the 18 and the Hart faithful held their collective breaths. Here's where the great get separated out from the merely good.

MV at the Hart 18: pass to Warren Reuland for -4 (he dropped his knee as he caught the ball); run by Lockridge for 7 down to the Hart 15, on 3rd down, run by Moline down to the Hart 13 and then on 4th down SACK by a blitzing Sarkissian coming in untouched for a 5-yard loss.

Hart started at the 18 with 3:10 left in the half: run by Howell for 0 on a draw, run by Howell for 0, penalty for illegal procedure (things did not look to promising for Hart at this point and MV called a timeout to save some time for themselves); on 3rd and 15, pass for 16 to Embree, run by Howell for 2, run by Lyon for -6 (not a sack because there was never any indication he was going to pass; the defenders got him about the same time the ball did), pass to Yudin for 37 (Howell laid a devastating block on a blitzer and Yudin just took the ball away from the defender), pass to Wheeler for 0, incomplete, pass to Yudin for 20 across the middle (he got leveled but held on), pass to Embree for -1, incomplete (to Yudin at the back of the end zone) and then on 3rd down, no time outs left, a pass to Yudin for 19 along the left side of the end zone and the touchdown. The PAT missed so it was Hart 16-7 at :13 in the second quarter.

MV got a 26-yard return to the 36: Moline ran for 12 and it was halftime.

First half stats: Lyon was 11 of 14 for 198 yards and 2 TDs. He also ran for net 1 yard on 4 carries. Casselberry had 6 yards on 1 carry and 13 yards on 2 receptions. Howell had 22 yards on 10 carries (he started well but really got shut down after the first 5 carries). Yudin had 126 yards on 4 receptions and a TD. Wheeler had 4 yards on 2 catches. Embree had 55 yards on 3 catches.

MV: Toman was 3 of 5 for 39 yards. He had 12 yards on 3 carries (one sack) and a TD. Moline had 42 yards on 8 carries. Gogerty had 4 yards on 2 carries. Lockridge had 17 yards on 4 carries.

Second half: the MV kick was not quite to the end zone but Wheeler couldn't get going and got only a 5-yard return to the 7: run by Howell for 0, run by Casselberry on a slot counter for 3, incomplete (this really was the only bad play by Lyon all night - he had rolled right and was wide open and probably could have run for the first down; he elected to through to a wide open Yudin underneath put the pass was low and behind Yudin), punt.

MV at the Hart 47: run by Moline for 8, incomplete (dropped in the end zone), run by Moline for 9, run by Moline for 2, run by Gogerty for 4, run by Moline for 1, run by Moline for 3, SACK (started by Sarkissian and finished by Best) for -9, on second and long, run by Lockridge for 20 down to the Hart 9 (with missed tackles by half the Hart defense), then possibly the key play of the game, on first down at the 9, FUMBLE by Moline at the line of scrimmage. Hart recovered at the 8.

Hart at the 8: pass to Wheeler for 2, pass to Howell on a screen for 13 (Howell had a great wall of blockers in front of him and ran by them or he might have gotten much more), run by Howell for 1, run by Lyon for 1, run by Lyon for 2 (flushed) and punt.

MV started at the MV 41: penalty for holding -11, pass to Warren Reuland for 17, run by Lockridge for 15, SACK by Casselberry for -4 [END OF QUARTER], run by Lockridge, for 9, run by Moline for 3, run by Moline for 4, run by Moline for 4, run by Lockridge for 1, incomplete (long over Konrad Reuland at the back of the end zone), pass to Fitzgerald for 10 down to the Hart 9 (another down and out), run by Moline for 5 down to the 4, penalty for illegal procedure (at this point, Hart's DE Steve Burton was hurt; don't know the injury), run by Moline for 4 back to the 5, incomplete and 21-yard field goal. Hart 16-10 with 6:37 to go in the game.

Hart got no return and started at the 20: pass to Cannon for 11, run by Lyon for 35 (the same play the refs whistled dead in the Canyon game because they thought the RB had the ball) down to the MV 34, run by Howell for 0, pass to Howell for 4, pass to a wide open Howell for 10 (roll right throw left), run by Howell for 2 (timeout MV), run by Howell for 2 down to the 16 (timeout Hart), then pass to Embree on a short crossing route for 16 yards and the TD (the DB blitzed and Embree's route was where the DB had been). Hart went for 2 and got it on a pass to Casselberry. Hart 24-10 with 3:24 to play.

Hart squib-kicked, MV got a 5-yard return and started at the 35: incomplete (K. Reuland), pass to Sullivan for 16 on crossing route, pass to Fitzgerald on the sideline for 11, run by Toman for 5 (flushed), incomplete, pass to Fitzgerald for 11 down the sideline, run by Toman for -3 (hit and fumbled but recovered by MV), incomplete, on third down, an 18-yard run by Moline to the Hart 7, then on a very big and I might add very obvious penalty, MV (W Reuland?) was called for offensive pass interference on a catch in the endzone so it was -15 and a loss of down, pass to Fitzgerald on the sideline for 15 [NOTE THE PATTERN HERE] and on third down at the 7, Toman threw a pass down the right sideline toward Fitzgerald just one too many times - Wheeler stepped in front of it for the INTERCEPTION.

Hart started at the 6 with 1:35 to go but MV had only 1 timeout: knee for -1, knee for -1, delay and knee and then on fourth down, Hart called time out. Lyon took the snap, ran around in the end zone until corned than ran out the side of the end zone with 3 seconds left for a safety. Hart 24-12. Johnson told the refs to run the clock and it was over.

Second half stats: Lyon was 6 of 7 for 56 yards and a TD. He had 3 carries for 38 yards. [The "knees" at end I believe are charged as team carries]. Howell had 5 carries for 5 yards but more importantly, he had 3 critical receptions for 27 yards. Wheeler had 1 catch for 2 yards. Casselberry had 1 carry for 3 yards and 1 reception for 13 yards. Embree had 1 for 16 yards and a TD.

MV: Toman had 6 completions on 13 attempts for 80 yards and 1 interception. Toman had -21 yards on 4 carries including 2 sacks. Moline 12 carries for 61 yards and a fumble. Gogerty had 1 carry for 4 yards. Lockridge had 4 carries for 55 yards.

Totals: Lyon 17 of 21 for 254 yards and 3 TDs. 39 yards on 7 carries. Yudin had 126 yards on 4 catches and a TD, all in the first half. Embree had 4 catches for 71 yards and 2 TDs. Casselberry had 26 yards on 3 catches and 9 yard on 2 carries. Howell had 27 yards on 15 carries and 3 receptions for 27 yards. Wheeler had 6 yards on 3 catches.

MV: Toman was 9 of 18 for 119 yards and an interception. He had 9 yards on 7 carries and was sacked 3 times. He had the lone TD for MV. Moline had 103 yards on 20 carries. Gogerty had 8 yards on 3 carries and Lockridge had 8 carries for 72 yards.

Comments: This was certainly the finest game of Lyon's career. He has had bigger stats but this was a stellar performance in a big game. Quite frankly he had only one bad play the entire night as noted above. Hart's running game was not too hot after the first quarter (except for Lyon's 35-yard run) but Howell more than made up for it as a receiver. Yudin had the best half of the year. Embree had his best game. And probably most importantly, the offensive play-calling was very good. The side-to-side stuff was not productive at all (look at Wheeler's yards). And the runs up the middle were completely stuffed after the first quarter (if the intent was to run the clock: good call. If the intent was to actually gain yardage: not so good.). The big difference here was more passing down field, over the defense, roll outs (a rarity to this point in the season), a wide assortment of receivers (first pass to a tight end, Cannon since week 4) and a lot of "set piece" passes were there was no choice to be made - and Lyon hit every one of them.

The defense - stellar! They gave up yards in the middle of the field but really jammed it up once MV got around the 20. That happened 5 times during the game and MV came away with only 2 scores - a run by the QB when he was flushed out of the pocket and a field goal. The other three times it was a sack on fourth down, a fumble by Moline and an INT by Wheeler. And you just knew that INT was coming as MV went to that same play, same route once too often.

It wasn't a blowout by any means but Hart was ahead from the gitgo and stayed there. The offense got a lot of long drives and kept the defense rested. The defense really smacked some people. Oh and 1 minor gloat - Burroughs, yes BURROUGHS scored more points than MV.

Next week - the Foothill/D-2 Finals!

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