If my theme last week was "GIFT", this week it can only be "SPEED KILLS". St B had a whole slew of cheetahs, Quarterback Stevens and Running Back Lee had spectacular nights and that combined with the Hart defensive line problems gave St B a huge edge. Despite all that, Hart almost pulled it out.

So here's how it went:

St B took the opening kickoff and started at the 35: pass to Morales for 2, Matt Lee for a 36 yard run (note the big play between the 30s and right down the middle of the field), incomplete, Lee for 4, Lee for 12, Lee for 0, pass to Green for 11 followed by a 1-yard run by Lee for a TD. St B (somewhat inexplicably) went for 2, didn't get it and it was 6-0 at 9:03 in the first. Every one of the runs was right up the middle. To the best of my recollection, the passes were in the middle of the field too.

Hart started its series at the 23: Pass to Howell for 9, pass to Leigh for 5, run by Howell for 0 (pitch right), pass interference moved the ball to the SB 48, Howell ran between the tackles for 6 (had a contact lenses problem and went off the field), Toledo ran for 7 and then a 35-yard pass to Ciccone (with some excellent running) for a TD. The PAT was good and it was 7-6 Hart at 6:05 in the first quarter.

SB started at the 15: Lee for 3, incomplete, pass to Morales for 12, run by Lambert for 5, pass to Tafoya for 9, Lee for 4, incomplete (tipped at the line), pass to Ballard on a hot route for 30 (note the big play right down the middle of the field again), pass (run?) by Tafoya for 7, Lee for 7, pass to Green for 6, Lee for 2 and another TD. Once again the PAT was no good so it was 12-7 with 1:13 in the first.

Hart: 3 and out (1-yard run by Howell and two incompletes)

SB started at the 47 on a very short punt and then got assessed with a holding call to end the first quarter. Pass to Morales for 13, Lee for 11, pass to Lee for 10, Lee for 2, pass to Green for 4, illegal procedure, pass to Tufoya for 14, Lee for 4, pass to Wilson for an 11-yard TD. Once again the Seraphs went for 2. This time they got it and it was 20-7 with 7:20 left in the half.

Hart started at the 20: Howell run for 3, pass to Whitmore deep over the middle for 25, pass to Ciccone for 4, run by Howell for no gain. On the next play, Norton got flushed, rolled right and ripped it down to Whitmore at about the 10. Whitmore had to slow up a tad to get it and almost got caught from behind (that SB speed again!). The DB knocked the ball lose but Whitmore was already in the endzone. 20-14 with 4:40 left in the half.

SB started at the 34: Lee for 4, pass to Sanchez -- the EIGHTH different receiver in the first half -- for 19 (another big play in the middle of the field), pass to Wilson for 19 (in the middle of the field), Lee for 13, Lee for 11, Lee for 2 and a touchdown. The two-point conversion was good and it was 28-14 with 2:28 to play.

At this point Hart seemed to be really reeling. SB had scored on every possession. It looked to me like a good time for an onside kick. SB got something better. The kick was down the field but flat. It bounced off the turf and into and off of the return man's chest and on to the ground. The returner then picked it up and took off. He ran four or five steps and then the ball just popped out. No defensive player came close to touching him but SB got the recovery at the Hart 15. This looked disastrous.

SB: Lee for 4, Lee for 2, holding put the ball back to the 19 than an IP put it out to the 23. Pass to Morales (on what looked like a sure INT) for 18. With 7 second left, Stevens threw an incomplete after 12 straight completions. Then -- and inexplicably to me -- SB tried a field goal from the 5 (22 yard attempt). Hart blocked it and Ciccone picked it up and ran it all the back to the SB 20 before being caught from behind (more SB speed!) and there ended the half.

Norton had a nice first half 6 for 8 and 126 yards and 2 TDs. Dan Howell had only 5 carries for 10 yards.

Stevens of St B had a superb first half. He was 15 of 19 for 184 yards and 1 TD. Matt Lee had 18 carries for 120 yards.

I think Hart went into the locker room with a little optimism because they had stopped SB for the first time at the 5-yard line and were within a whisker of getting a TD on the blocked kick.

Unfortunately, Hart came out in the second half with a bit of the droppsies. Hart started at the 33 and the series went incomplete, pass to Ciccone for 45 (we're on our way!) down to the SB 22, Howell run for 1, incomplete, incomplete, incomplete (the four incompletes in that series were to four different receivers) and Hart turned over the ball at the SB 21. As it turns out, this probably was the critical series for Hart.

St B: Lee for 0. Here's where things started to get a little testy for Hart. From my perspective and certainly from the rest of the Hart fans' view, this should have been at least a 1-yard loss but no go on the referee's spot. On the next play, Stevens was sacked for what looked around a 5-yard loss. It was marked as a 4-yard loss. While this may seem trivial, the next play was a 14-yard pass to Morales for a first down -- by about an inch. The next play was a run (by Morales?) For 15 and another first down to the 46. Then a pass to Morales for a 1-yard loss, a pass to Green for 7 to the Hart 48, then Lee for 2 to the 46. This spot too looked mighty generous (and I was right on the 50 so had a good view). It was fourth down and 2. Once again Lee got the first down by about an inch. I think Hart was a little distracted and frustrated because for once they seem to be slowing SB down but just not quite enough. The next play was a swing pass to Lee along the right sideline and he ran it in from 44 yards for the TD. It was 34-14 with 5:24 left in the third quarter.

Hart started the next series on the 33 on a nice 30-yard return by Toledo. Then some more droppsy problems: Inc, Inc, Inc - the last one was a nice pass where Surratt had beaten all the defenders but he just couldn't quite snag it. Punt.

The punt was very short and SB started at the Hart 48: Lee for 4, Tafoya for 6, Lee for 4, pass to Lee for 15, pass to Lee for 6, run by Lee for 1, run by Morales for 3. SB was faced with another fourth down at the Hart 12 and once again (from the Hart perspective) got a very generous spot on the ensuing play, a 1 yard run by Lee for a first down. However, there was a holding call on the next play which backed SB out to the 26. Then a 6-yd run by Lee to end the third quarter. The fourth quarter started with an incomplete, a run for no gain by Lambert, a delay penalty and then a sack for a 10-yard loss on fourth down.

Hart took over on the 35 and the series went: pass to Howell for 20 to the SB 45, incomplete, pass to Ciccone for 9 down to the 36, incomplete (big time drop), 24-yard run by Howell down to the 12, a holding call then moved it back to the14 and a sack (the only one of the night) for an 8 yard loss. The next play was a 24-yard TD pass to Ciccone and it was 34-21 with 8 minutes to play. Things were looking up!

Hart tried an onside kick and once the scrum was sorted out, SB had the ball at the SB 49: Incomplete, Lee for 11, Lee for no gain, incomplete, pass to Sanchez for 11, down to the Hart 29. Then another really strange call -- Hart was assessed half the distance on a "chop block." I didn't know you could do that on defense. On the next play Lee ran for 4 and Hart got hit with another "half the distance" penalty for a head slap. I couldn't see it because of the "scrum" but it must have been really obvious to the SB fans because a real roar went up. Repeat first down at the 7 but only 2 yards to go for the first down. Lee for 3 and a first down, Lee for 2, Lee for no gain, Lee for no gain and an incomplete in the endzone.

Hart took over on the 2-yard line with about 5 minutes left. Pass to Elledge for 12, incomplete, incomplete, incomplete (and Norton hit just as he throws), 15-yard pass to Ciccone on 4th down, out to the 29, incomplete, pass (that was tipped way down the field) gathered in by Elledge (shades of Los Al last year) for a 41-yard gain to the SB 30-yard line. The next play was really a great catch by Surratt in the endzone. The PAT hit the upright so it was 34-27 with 3:55 to go.

Remember my "middle of the field" note at the top. Hart tried another onside kick and SB recovered at the 50. The next play was devastating: a 31-yard run by Lee right up the middle to the 19. The next play was a 1-yard run by Lee. Morales then got a reverse handoff to the right and ran it in 18 yards for the TD. While I may be mistaken, I think that was the only run that SB had around the outside all night and what a killer (and now they finally kick a PAT). But there were still over 2 minutes left in the game.

Hart started at the 24: incomplete, incomplete, pass to Surratt for 12, incomplete, pass to Surratt for 22, incomplete to Elledge (I think he was running before he caught it; he was all alone on the sideline), pass to Elledge (on the other sideline) for11. There was an iffy late hit call on Elledge (note my "fair and balanced" approach here) and Hart had the ball on the15 with 1:33 to go. A pass to Elledge moved the ball to the 5 and SB got nailed for an IP on the next play to move the ball to the 2 and a half. On the next play, Ciccone took two slanting steps in and it was a TD and 41-34.

Hart tried another onside kick. This one got that big bounce you look for but SB got it at the 48. Lee ran for 4, there was a pass to Green for 5 and Lee got stuffed for minus 1 as time ran out.

My thoughts: SB had a tremendous amount of speed and used it well. Hart played a lot of cover 2 and the DBs played off the receivers. This made the middle of the field particularly vulnerable and Stevens exploited it to the max. He was hitting the right receiver all night long. He really never completed a long pass all night -- he simply threw under the coverage and let his receivers do the rest. SB got a number of long plays between the 30s, both running and passing and spent the night knocking on Hart&'s door. Outside of the swing pass to Lee in the 3rd (44 yards along the sideline) and the reverse by Morales in the 4th (19 yards along the sideline) virtually all the running and passing yards were right down the middle -- runs between the tackles and passes between the hash marks.

The Hart coaching staff has some serious thinking to do over the weekend. Last week, the Hart D-line held its own against the Los Al running game, though virtually all the Los Al running yards were right up the middle. This was somewhat surprising since Hart was running a 3-man front most of the time. The bigger issue was the pass rush: Hart never got to the Los Al QB last week. Not once.

This week, Stevens (like Barnes) generally had plenty of time to throw (the SB line is incredibly tall, including a 6'8" tackle). Hart sacked him twice for a total of 14 yards but didn't give him too much trouble for the most part. He was more harried in the fourth quarter when Howell was playing D-end.

Of even more concern was the number of yards Lee gained, as I noted, almost entirely between the tackles. I've noted before that Hart's ascendency can be traced back to the 6th game in 1998. At that point the Indians moved Pat Norton to D-tackle from OLB following a loss to Loyola. Thereafter, for remainder of that season and the next 3 seasons, Hart always had two big quick guys at the tackles and wholly dominated the center of the field. That was not necessarily so last season and so far, there has been no "dominance" in the middle of the defensive line for Hart.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if a few of those big offensive linemen start sharing some time at the D-tackle spots (essentially go fulltime on the offensive line and half-time or less on the defensive line). Hart needs more beef in the middle. While Hart has a whole boatload of tough opponents ahead, they will not see that much collective speed for the rest of the year (when's the last time someone scored 28 against Hart in the first half, or 41 in a game? I can't remember).

Norton finished the night at 19 of 37 for 384 yards and 5 TDs. That's a great night in anyone's book. The real killer was the string of incompletes in the third quarter. He was 1 for 7 with 6 straight incompletions at one point. I saw it as a combination of several factors. Some dropped passes, some routes that were a little on the long side and some jitters by one receiver in particular. I thought that Hart made too much of an effort to get back in the game too fast which may have been the cause for some of the incompletes. On the other hand, who am I to quibble: Norton's TD passes were 35, 48, 24, 30 and 2 yards. He averaged over 20 yards a catch to 6 different receivers.

Stevens was 24 of 32 for 291 yards and 2 TDs. Last year he threw three INTs and killed SB. This year he had no INTs and hit every one right on the mark all night long.

Lee: what can I say. A workhorse. A very fast workhouse. 37 carries for 204 yards, only one for a loss.

Hart had a very good day on defense last week but the offense, especially when Norton went out, struggled. I don't know but I think Norton may have been hurt on the first play last week which would explain why he never ran the ball, something he normally would do. This week too, he did not run the ball. I don't doubt that Howell was slated for a lot of carries but Hart got buried so early in the game that the Indians had to go to the pass. Howell had 33 yards on 7 carries.

The passing offense was very good tonight and both Whitmore and Surratt really showed me something. Elledge played some nice tight end/slot. Undoubtedly Howell will get more in the mix in the ensuing weeks so I think the offense is good to go. The offensive line was terrific.

The defense will need to work out something to plug up the middle or it may be another scoring fest next week.

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