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How many times have we heard some "expert" tell us that football is a game of inches. Well that stereotype was
proved in spades in this game with Canyon prevailing when Hart was stopped about 2 inches short of a first down at the very
end of the game. Ultimately, an EXTREMELY fortunate call by the officials in Canyon's favor, an INCREDIBLY stupid penalty
incurred by Hart and an EXCEPTIONALLY unlucky bounce decided the game.
Because of traffic, my son and I arrived at this game a little late and missed most of the first series, thus my play-by-play
is a little dicey for the first few plays.
Hart got no return on the kickoff and started on the 20: sack, sack, pass to Yudin for 40, ???, incomplete, incomplete
and punt.
Canyon at the 20: pass to DiLuigi for 1, run by Diluigi for 10, run by DiLuigi for 0, pass to Wirthlin for 5, PENALTY
for holding -5, SACK for -0 and punt.
Hart got a 4-yard return by Wheeler and started at the 39: run by Howell for 7, run by Lyon for 2, run by Lyon for 1,
run by Howell for -1, pass to Wheel for 10, run by Casselbury for 1, run by Lyon for 1, pass to Wheeler for -1, incomplete
(we on the Hart side saw a pass interference), SACK for -9 and punt.
Canyon's returner dropped the ball and covered it for no return and started at the 16: run by DiLuigi for 2, pass to Wirthlin
for 9 [END OF QUARTER], run by DiLuigi for 7, run by Civita for 5, pass to Kingsbury with a FUMBLE on the play which Hart
recovered.
Hart at the 50: Incomplete, incomplete, pass to Casselberry for 16, run by Howell for 2, pass to Yudin on an outside screen
for 31 down to the 1 then run by Lyon for 1 and the TD. Hart 7-0 at 9:14 of the second quarter.
Canyon got a 56-yard return by Loucks (he was stopped at the 30 but escaped) and started at the Hart 29: run by DiLuigi
for 6, run by Civita on a draw for 8, run by DiLuigi for 4, run by Civita for 5, run by Civita on a sneak for 3, FUMBLE by
the QB recovered by Canyon after a 5-yard loss, incomplete (catch and fumble on a big hit by Casselbury), SACK for -2 by Cannon
and Casselberry and then INTERCEPTION by Yudin.
Hart at the 9L run by Howell for 6, run by Howell by 1, incomplete (almost an INT) and punt.
Canyon at the 43: run by DiLuigi for 5, run by Civita for 8 then -15 on a personal foul PENALTY, pass to DiLuigi for 10
pass to Urbina (a soph!) for16, run by Civita for 3, PENALTY for unsportsmanlike conduct by Hart's MLB, an absolute killer
which gave Canyon a first down on the 15, SACK for -1, pass to DiLuigi for 12 (this was on the replay indisputably a fumble
by DiLuigi but the referee called him down), run by Civita for 4, PENALTY offsides against Hart and then run by DiLuigi for
1 and the TD. 7-7 at :13.9 in the half.
Hart got a 17-yard return by Howell and then took a knee to end the half.
Second half.
Canyon got a 5-yard return by Kingsbury and started at the 35: run by Civita (on a fumbled snap) for 4, run by DiLuigi
for 4, run by DiLuigi for -3 and punt.
Hart got no return [Casselberry left the game with an injury as did Griffin Cannon]: pass to Wheeler for 6, pass to Wheeler
for 3, run by Lyon for 1 on a sneak, pass to Wheeler for 25, run by Howell for 0, run by Howell for 3, pass to Yudin for 10,
run by Lyon for 15 and pass to Yudin for 11 and the TD. The PAT was blocked. Hart 13-7 at 5:49 in the third.
After a squib kick, Canyon started at the 41: run by DiLuigi for5, run by Kingsbury for 25, run by Civita for 7, SACK
for -7, pass to Wirthlin for 11, run by DiLuigi for 1, PENALTY for illegal procedure for -5, run by DiLuigi for 15, run by
Civita for 4, run by DiLuigi for 2 and run by Civita and the TD. Canyon 14-13 at :50.2 in the third.
Hart got a 12-yard return by Wheller and started at the 13: run by Howell for 2 [END OF QUARTER], incomplete, pass to
Yudin for 40, run by Lyon for 3 and then the real killer of the game, a pass to Wheeler who was hit as he caught it. He sort
of pinwheeled in the air and ended up kicking the deflected ball about 20 feet straight up. My grandmother could have caught
it. INTERCEPTION.
Canyon at the 29: run by DiLuigi for -1, pass to Wirthlin for 11, run by DiLuigi for 1 run by DiLuigi for 4, pass to Wirthlin
for 7, run by Civita for 3, pass to Urbina for 23, run by Civita for 1, run by Wirthlin for 7, run by DiLuigi for 3, run by
Civita for 7, run by Civita for 1 and then pass to Kingsbury for 4 and the TD. Canyon 21-13 at 3:30 in the fourth.
Hart got a 13-yard return by Wheeler and started at the 24: SACK for -3 then INT by Kingsbury with about 3 minutes left.
Think it's all over? WRONG!
Canyon at the Hart 42: run by Civita for 3, timeout by Hart at 2:32) run by DiLuigi for 0 (timeout Hart at 2:20), incomplete
and then punt.
The punt was downed at the Hart 1.
Now it's REALLY all over? NOT!
Hart at the 1: pass to Yudin for 9, pass to Yudin for 8, pass to Yudin for 11, incomplete, incomplete (1:30), incomplete
(1:24) then on fourth down PENALTY for illegal procedure, repeat the down and PENALTY for pass interference on Canyon and
thus a first down for Hart at the 39; incomplete, pass to Yudin for 12, incomplete, pass to Howell right down the middle of
the field for a great catch and 26 yards, pass to Yudin for 7, (Hart calls it's last time out with 34 seconds left and the
ball at the 23) pass to Yudin for 5 (ball at the 16 and clock running), spike, incomplete, incomplete and then --- on fourth
down and 10 at the 11, pass to Yudin for 10 yards. He was nailed by DiLuigi as he caught the ball and the refs marked it.
They called for a measurement -- and -- it was short of the first down by about 2 inches.
My assessment: great game largely decided by defense. Three aberrant plays/calls killed Hart. First, the incredibly
stupid unsportsmanlike conduct call -- well after the play was over (while the kid clearly was baited by Canyon, it was wholly
within his power to simply keep his mouth shut) gave Canyon an opportunity that it wouldn't have had. Then the whistle EXTREMELY
fortunate non-fumble call (and it WAS a fumble) which gave Canyon a little more life.
Then the INCREDIBLY unlucky "boot it up into the air" interception more or less sealed the outcome but even
then, Hart came within two inches of turning it around.
Final stats:
Canyon -- DiLuigi had 19 carries for 68 yards and a TD; Civita had 52 yards on 22 carries and a TD; Kingsbury had 24 yards
on 1 carry and Wirthlin with 6 yards on 1 carry. Total of 150 yards rushing on 43 carries. Civita was 13 of 17 with 1 TD,
1 INT and 122 yards. The receivers were DiLuigi had 2 for 23 yards, Wirthlin had 6 for 42 yards, Urbina had 3 for 43 and
Kingsbury had 2 for 14 and a TD. Total offense from scrimmage: 272 yards.
Hart -- Howell had 19 yards on 8 carries, Casselberry had 1 yard on 1 carry, Lyon had 15 yards on 12 carries (4 sacks)
for a total of 20 yards on 21 carries. Lyon was 20 38 for 294 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT. Casselberry had 1 catch for 16,
Howell had 1 for 26, wheeler had 5 for 42 and Yudin had 13 for 210.
Total offense from scrimmage: 314 yards.
All-in-all a very exciting game.
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