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In a post yesterday I said that the 1998 Hart-Loyola game was the most exciting game in this series. I now amend my statement.
This one looked almost exactly like the 1998 game except this time the snap was good, the placement was good and, most importantly
for Hart, the kick was good! Hart wins 17-16!
The Hart D got better and better as the game progressed and the offense did what they needed to do against a very tough
Loyola defense. Lyon had two 2 TD passes, one late in each half. The first one was an 80-drive in 37 seconds. The second one
an 80-yard drive in a 1:57. Lyon moved team down the field for the winning field goal, starting at the 25 in under 2 minutes.
The field goal says it all: Hart wins.
Both teams had an INT early in the game and that was it for turnovers. Penalties were another issue entirely with both
teams having just cause to be ticked off with the officiating.
The Loyola kicker is SPECTACULAR but the Hart kickers were mistake free and that was the difference.
Again referring to my post yesterday, I knew that Hart was going to make some adjustments on defense. So far as I could
tell there were a couple of fairly big personnel changes. First, because Steve Burton is injured, Brock Arndt was moved from
OLB to DE. I think that was a terrific move for Ardnt. He just fits in the Hart scheme as a DE better than as a linebacker.
Second, Pat Sarkissian took over as the OLB and did a nice job. In the first half, I think Terry Leigh played corner most
of the time and the second half it appeared that Pat Meza was back in there. The defense was bendable but not breakable as
Loyola had only a single play over 20 yards all night (at last, no big plays!)
The details.
Hart kicked off and Loyola got only 5 yards on the return and started at the10 yard line: run by Bragg (24) for 2, pass
for 13, run by the Frost the QB on an option for no gain and run by Bragg for 4. The next play was an INT by Surratt. He picked
it off near the 50 and returned it to the Loyola 37 giving Hart excellent field position.
Hart was unable to take advantage: inc., inc., run by Lyon for no gain and on fourth down, an INT (by the Loyola QB?).
The ball was returned to the Loyola 48.
Now that everyone got their turnover bugs exorcised, things settled into a grind by Loyola.
Loyola: run by Bragg for 4, run by the QB for 2, run by the QB after he was flushed for 3 and a punt to the endzone. Hart
was a hair’s breadth from starting from about the one foot line.
Hart (from the 20): PENALTY (offsides) run by Casselbury (RC) for 6, inc (dropped dagnabit!), PENALTY (holding), pass
to Wolfe for 4, inc. and punt (very close to a block).
Loyola got no return and started at the 36: run by Bragg for 3, run by Bragg for 3, QB flushed and run for 16, run by
Hypolite for 1, inc., QB flushed and run for 6, QB sneak for 4 [END OF QUARTER], run by Hypolite for 18, run by Hypolite for
1, inc., pass for -3 and a 32-yard field goal to give Loyola a 3-0 lead at 9:46 in the second quarter.
Loyola's kicker boomed it almost out of the endzone and Hart started at the 20: Pass to Yudin for 10, run by RC for 3,
pass to Yudin for 7, run by RC on a pitch to the left (short) side of the field and run for 11, run by RC between the tackles
for no gain, inc., inc. (receiver slipped) and punt.
Loyola fair caught the ball and started at the 23: Bragg run for 10, pass to Appenfelder for 10, run by Hypolite for 5,
run by Bragg for 2, pass to Stewart (?) for 8, run by Hypolite for 1, pass to Thorton (?) for1, pass for 20, run by Frost
for 7 on an option, run by Hypolite for 2, run by Bragg for 10 and then run by Bragg for 1 and TD. The PAT was good and Loyola
was up 10-0 with only :39 seconds left in the half.
My comment to my son at the time was that at least 10-0 looked better than last week when it was 26-0 at half. Boy was
I wrong in my assessment.
Once again the Loyola kicker boomed the ball deep into the endzone so Hart started at the 20: Run by RC for 11 for a first
down at the 31, pass to Wolfe on a great catch along the left sideline for a 31 yard gain to the Loyola 35. After a time out,
Hart got hit with a procedure PENALTY to back the ball out to the 40. On the next play, Loyola got nailed for a pass interference
PENALTY which moved the ball to the 25. The next incomplete, was long on the left side of the endzone to Wolfe. On second
down with 11 seconds left, Lyon hit Yudin right in stride across the middle in the endzone. The PAT was good and it was 10-7
Loyola with :02 left. 80 yards in 4 plays in 37 seconds! What a drive. Hart squib kicked to end the half.
The first half offensive numbers for both teams were not exactly overwhelming. Frost was 6 for 9 for 49 yards and an interception.
Loyola had 105 yards rushing on 22 carries.
Lyon was 5 of 13 for 81 yards and a TD and an interception. Hart had 31 yards rushing on 6 carries (all 31 yards were
by Casselbury on 5 carries).
The most notable thing was the time of possession. While I don't keep exact stats on TOP, Hart had the ball less than
2 minutes in the first quarter and maybe 4 minutes in the second. The Loyola folks either ran, or kept the ball in bounds
on passes and just held the ball forever.
To start the second half, Hart once again got the ball on the 20 after a big kick: run by RC for 3, pass to Yudin for
3 (and he got leveled as he caught it), inc and punt.
Loyola got no return (ball rolled out of bounds) and started at the 44: QB run for 11 on a trap play, Hypolite run for
6, QB keeper for 8, Bragg run for 3, pass to Appenfelder for 16 down to the Hart 11, inc, QB run for no gain, inc and a 28-yard
field goal. Loyola 13-7 at 6:21 in the third quarter.
Hart once again started at the 20 after the kickoff: run by RC for 1, a nice catch by Wolfe and a terrific downfield block
by Yudin for a 30-yard gain, inc, pass to Yudin for -5, inc. (a long dump downfield to avoid the sack) and punt.
Hart got another nice roll on the punt (something that happened all night) and Loyola started at the 18-yard line: QB
run for 1, PENALTY - pass interference (on a terrible call from the Hart perspective– the ball was way overthrown
and there was no chance the receiver could have been anywhere near it and the contact was after the ball sailed over their
heads), run by Hypolite on a draw for 4, PENALTY holding for -9, inc., run by the QB (flushed) for 5 and then a gigantic punt
from the Loyola 34 down to the Hart 3.
Hart: pass to Surratt for 15, PENALTY pass interference for 15, pass to Wolfe and a great downfield block by Leigh for
a 13-yard gain, run by RC for 4 [END OF THIRD QUARTER], then inc, inc and punt.
Loyola started at the 21: The first play was a 4-yard loss on a sack by Eric Herskovitz, the first loss on a play all
night by Loyola. The Cubs recovered quickly: run by Bragg for 8, run by Frost for 25, run by Bragg for 0, pass to Hypolite
for 11, run by Frost for 20, run by Hypolite for 5, PENALTY delay for -5, big sack by Wolfe for a 5 yard loss, a run by Bragg
for 2 and then what appeared to be the nail in the coffin: The Loyola kicker let loose with an incredibly flat kick on a field
goal attempt. It hit the crossbar very solidly but skipped over for a 16-7 Loyola lead with only 4:54 to play.
Hart -- guess what -- started at the 20): inc on a long pass along the right sideline, inc to a different receiver, also
along the right sideline. Then a game-changing play: Lyon threw out to the right on a short route and a Loyola player made
a great INT. But wait! There's a flag. PENALTY against Loyola for a late hit or roughing and Hart keeps the ball and gets
a third down out to the 35 (the Loyola coaching questioned whether they should get to keep the ball with the penalty marked
off after the change of possession -- no dice). The next play set the Hart coaches off: Yudin ran a route straight down the
right sideline right in front of the Hart bench. From our perspective (and it was right in front of us), Yudin was clearly
held but no call. The Hart coaches went crazy to no avail. Lyon then threw one across the middle to Surratt for a 20-yard
game, another across the middle to Leigh for 1, a pass to Yudin across the middle for 14, a pass along the left sideline to
Wolfe for 28 yards down to the Loyoal 2, inc and then a 2-yarder to Wolfe for the TD and it was 16-14 Loyola with 2:59 to
play (note that this scoring drive took less than two minutes!).
Hart tried an onside kick which was unsuccessful (no return yards) and Loyola started at the Loyola 49: PENALTY illegal
procedure, run by Hypolite for 2, run by Bragg for 5, incomplete and a fingernail away from an interception by Toledo which
might well have been returned the distance; punt.
Hart caught its first break in the kicking game. The punt was a little on the short side (at least in comparison to all
the other punts) and then bounced Hart's way. For the first time since the first series Hart actually started a drive beyond
the 20; the 25 to be exact.
There was 1:56 left in the game and Hart had NO timeouts left: run by RC for 5, pass to Surratt for 6 and a first down
at the 30 (Hart demanded a measurement which stopped the clock), inc, inc, pass to Leigh but only for 8 yards before he went
out of bounds to stop the clock. On fourth down, Lyon hit Wolfe for 15 out to the Hart 44; with 1:35 left, run by RC on a
pitch to the right for 5 yards (1:27 left), pass to Surratt on a safety blitz for 5 (1:20 left), run by RC for 10 down to
the Loyola 21 (:56), another run by RC for 6 down to the 15.
Here was a big gaff by Hart which turned golden! RC lost his shoe and instead of immediately pulling him, he was allowed
to stay out on the field and try to get his shoe on -- tick -- tick -- tick. Lyon got off an inc out of the back of the endzone
to stop the clock at :09.
Hart sent out the field goal team for a 32-yard attempt on third down. Shades of '98!! Loyola called time. Hart stayed
with the FG team. Snap, place, kick, GOOD. Hart takes the lead for the first and only time with 5 seconds on the clock (hmmm,
only consumed four seconds for a 32-yard FG?).
Hart squibbed the kickoff . And the return only took two seconds? (hey, we're gonna die of heart attacks up here in the
stands!) Loyola has the ball at the Hart 49. Hart puts half the defense back around the 10-yard line. Frost lets one fly,
way past any receiver, Wheeler knocks it to the ground and Hart wins!
The second half stats were a reversal of the first. Lyon was 14 of 26 for 155 yards and a TD. More importantly: no sacks,
no INTs, no fumbles. Robbie Casselbury had 33 yards on 7 carries but more importantly he had 26 yards on 4 carries on the
final drive, with no timeouts! Very gutsy play-calling by David Delmatoff the OC.
Loyola's offense was not exactly on fire in the first half and cooled down considerably in the second. Frost was 2 of
7 for 27 yards. The Cubs had 96 yards rushing on 18 carries (and half of that was on 2 carries by Frost).
Hart's defense was mostly Mr. Hyde and almost no Dr. Jekyl. The changes (particularly the move of Arndt to DT instead
of linebacker) had a profoundly positive effect.
The kicking game was virtually perfect for both teams. Loyola had a grand total of 5 return yards in the first half on
two Hart kickoffs and two Hart punts. Hart had 0 return yards on two kickoffs and one punt. In the second half, Loyola had
2 return yards and Hart had zero. The Loyola kicker would have been the player of the game with a PAT and 3 FGs plus burying
Hart on every kickoff and punt. However, the Hart kicker got both PATs and the highest pressure field goal in several years.
Don't think that won't build his confidence and justifiably so.
The Hart running game: all Casselbury; though not profound, was incredibly timely in its production.
Lyon threw down the field far more in this game than in any other game this year. Lyon (and for that matter, Frost), when
he missed, was almost always long. We figured the field must have a big crown in it and both QBs were throwing down hill.
The offensive line was missing Zimmerman but they did a job tonight. Lyon was not sacked once. He got hit a bunch as he
released or just after but not before he got the pass away. He moved in the pocket very well.
Once again Loyola ran a myriad of formations ranging from the empty backfield, five-receiver spread to the full-house
winged T.
Oh. By the way. How did Valencia do against Loyola's co-religionists? And how did Calpreps pick Hart to do? And Valencia?
End of gloat.
One last note: anyone want to take over for me on the Hart homecoming game? We'll be in Argentina for No. 2 son's wedding.
Saugus next week. Go Indians.
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