My son who was with me at the game said my post ought to begin with: GIFT!

From the Hart perspective, Los Al did get some pretty nice gifts, but give credit to the Los Al defense too. They kept Hart in check in the second quarter and thats all they needed. For those who saw the game, Hart's going to have an interesting week in practice.

So here's the summary and some of my thoughts.

Los Al kicked off VERY high and VERY deep into the endzone (that kid's got a leg) so Hart started at the 20. On the first play, Los Al set up with a 3-man line and blitzed 2 LBs. The guy coming in from the (defensive) right tipped Norton's pass way up in the air. Randy Estes gathered it in at about the 25 and was in the endzone in the blink of an eye. Los Al was up 7-0 with SEVEN seconds elapsed. This did not portend well for the Hart kids.

Hart once again started on the 20 on another long kickoff. The first play was a pass to Ciccone for 8 yards; followed by a Howell run up the middle for 8 and then a Howell run on a pitch for 58 yards and a TD. 7-7 with only 1 minute and 6 seconds elapsed in the game. Is it going to be a barnburner?

Los Al started on the 14 after a very short return by Estes (he fell trying to cut). Los Al then went three and out on a 1-yard run by Estes, a pass to Childs for 4 and a no-gain by Estes. But what a booming punt which was briefly dropped by Ciccone and returned to the Hart 33 (about a 49-yarder and very high).

Here's the Hart series: Howell run for 3, pass to Surratt for 10, run by Howell for 16, an incomplete, a fumble on the handoff to Howell and a recovery/sack for -6 by Norton, pass to Ciccone for 19, run by Howell for 18, run by Howell for 4 (by the way this was the first play that Hart ran with Norton under center; every play up to that point had been from the shotgun), run by Howell for 1 (from under center), run by Howell for 2 (from shotgun) and Hart led 14-7 with 4:35 left in the first quarter.

Los Al took the kickoff and had a decent return but the ball got moved back on an illegal block to the 8. Rice for 9, Rice for 1, incomplete pass, and a run by Minter for minus 3, followed by a pass for 4 and then another booming punt (45 yards).

Hart started at the 36: Howell for 7, a procedure penalty, an incomplete to Ciccone and a sack for a 5-yard loss. If the INT on the first play of the game was devastating, the next play could well have been fatal. The Hart long snapper hiked a little low and the punter, in going down to get the ball touched his knee down: Los Al ball on the Hart 19 (I think the TV viewers probably agreed with most Hart fans that this was a very suspect call). Once again all the plays were from the shotgun.

Los Al once again did not show a whole lot on offense: first down was an illegal procedure. I gather the Los Al coach got pretty hot under the collar about this one but the ref threw the flag on the far side of the field right as the ball was snapped. As near as I could tell the guy in the left slot was the source of the problem. After three consecutive incompletes (interspersed with the end of the first quarter), Los Al tried and missed a 41-yard field goal.

Hart started at the 20 and at this point Los Al seemed to have caught on to the Hart running scheme from the shotgun. Hart's first three season, Los Al set up with a three man front and blitzed two on every play. After the second TD, Los Al went to a four-man front but still was blitzing at least one on every play as near as I could tell. On the first play Howell was dropped for a one-yard loss. From an empty backfield, Norton threw an incomplete and another incomplete on third down. Howell's punt was almost blocked.

Los Al started at the Hart 39: incomplete, 4 yard run by Rice, incomplete and another missed field goal attempt.

Hart once again started at the 20 and once again in the shotgun formation: Howell for a 1-yard lost, Norton sacked for a 1-yard loss (from an empty backfield) and then Howell for a 5-yard loss on a pitch from the shotgun.

On ensuing punt, Howell was almost in the endzone and punted it out to around the Hart 45. The Los Al returner got about 10 yards and then Hart made what may have turned out to be the fatal mistake: on a somewhat iffy call, Hart got nailed for a late hit out of bounds and Los Al got the ball on the Hart 17. On the first play, Barnes fumbled but recovered for a 2-yard loss. On the next play Barnes made an excellent fake to Rice and then ran it in for a 19-yd TD. 14-14 with 7:00 minutes left in the half.

On the next kickoff the Los Al guy didn't get it to the endzone and Ciccone made about a 24-yard return to the 34. On the first play, Norton got flushed (from the shotgun) and was tackled for no gain. The next play was an 8-yard completion to Ciccone. Then another very painful play for Hart. Norton completed a pass over the middle to Norris Whitmore who had a nice run after the catch for an 18-yard gain but was hammered and fumbled at the end of it. Los Al recovered.

Los Al's series went: Rice run for 13, Rice run for 3, incomplete, Rice run for 1 and punt; a mere net 37-yarder (which is deceiving because Hart let it go into the endzone for a touchback).

Hart's first play was a 9-yard run by Howell followed by a 14-yard run by Howell then -- doggone it -- another error. With Hart on the 43, Norton threw just a tad short down the left sideline and it was intercepted by Cason. Los Al started at the 31: Rice run for 14, incomplete, Rice run for 6, Barnes run for 7, pass to number 3 (the only completion since early in the first quarter) for 13, incomplete, Estes run for 7, incomplete (and close to an INT on the tip) followed by a 38-yard field goal with 25 seconds left in the half.

Hart: Norton took a knee on the next play so it was 17-14 at half.

We had noticed some sort of problem well before the end of the half. Robbie Moore, the backup QB, was really excited along the sidelines and started warming up in the long Los Al series that led to the field goal. In addition, one of the starting linemen, Turner, was sitting on the bench and obviously in some difficulty. Something was up, we just didn't know what.

Norton in the first half was, I think, 5 for 11 with no TDs and two INTs for about 63 yards. Barnes was 3 for 13 and 22 yards. Not the offensive PASSING shootout some might have expected. The star of the first half was clearly Dan Howell with 123 yards in the first quarter and 137 for the half on 14 carries. Rice had 51 yards on 8 carries but got most of those on 7 carries in the second quarter.

Hart came out in the second half and we looked for and could not find Norton. A minute or two later we saw him come down the steps from the locker room in street clothes with his dad (with the hood on his sweatshirt covering his head to prevent the TV folks and Los Al knowing the situation). Moore was warming up like crazy and Turner, the lineman had to be helped to the bench. This did not bode well AT ALL for Hart's offense.

Los Al muffed the kickoff return and started on the 23. Rice run for 11, Rice run for 14, Estes run for minus 3, Rice for no gain, pass for 19, Rice run for 2, Rice run for a 13-yard loss, pass for 15 and another missed 49-yard field goal attempt.

Norton was out and Robbie Moore was in. Hart, for probably the first time in school history and certainly for the first time in the Herrington era, came out in a Winged T formation with Moore under center, Howell right behind him and two other guys to each side and two tight ends: Howell run for 4, Howell run for 1, sack for minus 6. The long snap was over Howell's head on the punt but he made a great recovery and had a nice punt.

On the next series for Los Al which started at the 44, Rice ran for a 2-yard loss. On the next play the pass got tipped and Howell intercepted.

Hart started at the Hart 48. What a series, considering the circumstances: Toledo for a 3-yard run (out of the same weird formation), Casselbury (a soph) for 2, Howell for 5, Casselbury for 4, Howell for 4, Howell for 2, Howell for 2 (and the end of the quarter), Toledo for 15, Howell for 2, Howell for 3, Howell for 3 down to the 7 followed by a Ciccone field goal and the score was tied 17-17 with 9:24 left.

Los Al, after a nice little return on the kickoff, started at the 33: Rice run for 4, incomplete, incomplete and punt.

Hart started on the 22: Toledo for no gain, Howell for no gain, incomplete (tipped at the line) and a punt with a fair catch.

Los Al started the next drive at the 45 with 6:36 to play. Rice run for 8, Estes for minus 3, pass for 7 to Childs, Rice fun for 4, pass to Gordan for 16, Rice run for minus 1, Rice fun for 9, Rice run for 2, Barnes run for minus 1, illegal procedure declined thus a Rice run for 2, Rice run for 2 down to the 9 and on fourth down and 45 seconds left, a field goal to make it 20-17.

Hart ended up with the ball on the 1 following the kick off. Moore's first pass was incomplete and the second was intercepted. Los Al took a knee and thus ended the game. The offensive errors really did in Hart – the first INT for a TD, the low snap on the punt, the late hit out of bounds, the fumble after a long gain, another INT.

On the other hand, the defense, with 9 new starters did very, very well. Offensively, Los Al did not look like a number 3 in the nation or number 3 in the state. Considering the dire state of the Norton-less Hart offense after halftime, Hart's defense has to be really encouraged by their hang-tough play. I had written earlier that Hart had four keys to win: (1) can Hart's new receivers snag it when it counts?; (2) will the offensive line play up to its ability?; (3) can the defensive line hold its own against that big Los Al line? and (4) how will the Hart DBs fare against Childs and Estes other receivers AFTER they catch the ball? Interestingly, Hart's new receivers did fairly well with Surratt and Whitmore each having one reception. What I didn't count on is Norton not being in the game to throw it to them. The offensive line was very impressive, even when they lost one of their number. The defensive line did give up some yards but most of it was in the middle of the field. The defense gave up only one touchdown and that was on a very short (17 yard) field. None of the Los Al receivers really hurt Hart.

The two really big plays in the game for Los Al were the tipped pass which Estes intercepted (the INT was easy -- far more credit should have been given by the TV people to the blitzing linebacker -- he made the play). The Barnes run for the TD was spectacular -- not so much for his running but for the terrific fake that he made. Watching the TV tape, the Hart D-end, who was intially where he should have been, had no idea that Barnes had the ball and went whole hog after Rice.

Hart's offense ate up Los Al's defense in the first quarter but the Griffins were pretty impressive in the second quarter once they settled down and went to a four-man front.

Its hard to give them too many kudos for the second half with Norton out of the game. If Los Al has any hope of repeating they're going to have to do a whole lot more in the passing game. While Barnes' completion percentage went up in the second half (4 for 7 with 1 INT), his passing led to only one score, the final field goal.

I have a couple of beefs with the Hart play-calling in the first half. Los Al was clearly befuddled by the Hart running scheme in the first quarter. They made some adjustments (putting four on the line). With four charging linemen and two blitzers, it became much more difficult to run from the shotgun but Hart kept trying and got few running yards in the second quarter (the Indians did get two big gains on consecutive plays by Howell -- one from the shotgun with some excellent trap blocking and another when Norton was under center). The problem as I see it is that the shotgun formation places huge limitations on the running game. Hart really has only variants on 2 shotgun running plays. The defensive linemen are essentially in a pass-rushing mode on every play. Once Hart put in some trap blocking, Howell was once again unleashed.

I would have loved to be in the locker room at halftime. I can't believe that the Winged T was in the playbook. I suspect they were working it out on the locker room floor during halftime. I think it was a fantastic strategy given the circumstances. Moore was not ready to run the regular Hart offense against the Los Al defense. The Winged T allowed Hart to eat up the clock, avoid turnovers and keep the ball out of Los Al's hands. It almost worked.

While I did talk to a couple of people about Norton's injury I don't know when it happened nor do I know how serious it is. He's a terrific competitor and I'm sure he wanted to stay in the game.

Practice will be interesting. If Norton's injury is not severe and he's able to play, everything back to normal. If not, Hart may have a couple of difficult choices. Obviously, giving Moore a week at QB in practice will sharpen his handling of the offense but while he has a decent arm, he's pretty darn slender and probably not as tall as he listed on the program. Use the Wing T again. Doubt it. How about this one -- Ciccone at QB and Howell and Toledo/Casselbury at RBs and use a veer offense? Practice will be interesting.

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