Here's the short version: The Valencia offense was terrific the first third of the game (and the Hart defense was, ahem, sloppy) and Valencia went up 28-7 fairly early in the second quarter. Hart scored twice in the 2nd quarter to make it 28-21 Valencia at the half. Hart tore it up in the 3rd quarter scoring quickly twice to go up 35-28. Valencia scored in the fourth to make it 35-35 and then Hart scored late in the fourth to win 42-35. The Hart defense played very well after the first half debacle. Kevin Ciccone was Mr. All around having a ton of return yards, TD catches, and an INT.

Now for the details.

Hart kicked off into the endzone so Valencia started at the 20. The first Valencia drive was consistent with the Viking first half performance: Run for 2, run for 9, incomplete, incomplete, 5 yard delay (making it 3rd and 15) and then a 34 yard pass down to the Hart 23. Run for 4, pass for 17, run for the TD and Valencia was up 7-0 with 9:22 in the first.

Hart got a 30-yard return from Ciccone on the kickoff and started at the 32. The first play was a shovel pass to Ciccone that looked a little bit like a sweep with a forward pitch. Ciccone made a brilliant 68-yard run after the catch for the TD and it was 7-7 at 9:04.

Valencia once again started at the 20 and went 25-yard pass, 7-yard pass, 1-yard run, 41-yard pass with a great run after the catch down to the Hart 6, 2-yard run and then a 4-yard pass to Middleton for the TD. The PAT missed and it was 13-7 at 6:45 in the first.

Hart started at the 20 and Howell took a 16-yard pass and with a late hit the ball ended up at the Valencia 49. Thereafter Hart had a run for 2, pass to Whitmore for 0 and then an incomplete and punt to the endzone.

Valencia once again started on the 20: incomplete, incomplete (making it third and 10) and then a 17-yard pass to Wright, incomplete, 9-yard pass, 1-yard run for the first down, incomplete, 10-yard pass, 19-yard pass, 7-yard run, 16-yard pass for the touchdown. Valencia went for 2. Hart stopped the runner but he fumbled and a lineman got it into the endzone for 2 making it 21-7 Valencia with 2:11 left in the first quarter.

Hart got a 35-yard return from Ciccone on the kickoff and started at the 37. The first play was a massive pass interference so Hart moved out to the 48 of Valencia. Following a 2-yard run by Hart, the Indians had two incompletes and punted again to the endzone.

Valencia started at the 20: incomplete, 2-yard pass and incomplete with a punt to start the 2nd quarter.

Hart started at the 37. Howell ran for 2 on the first play. On the second play, Norton passed to Howell across the middle for 10 yards but then Howell fumbled the ball and Valencia recovered at the Valencia 49.

Once again Valencia had the same type of pattern: incomplete (tipped and almost intercepted), incomplete, pass for 15, pass for 10, run for 26 and a TD to make it 28-7 with 9:36 left in the half. That however, was the end of the big stuff for Valencia.

Hart got a 24-yard return by Ciccone and started at the 26: Howell run for -1, Norton run for 30, Howell run for 2, incomplete, incomplete, Howell run for 18 on a fake punt on fourth down, pass to Leigh for 2, run by Howell for 6, run by Howell for no gain and on fourth down a run by Howell for 3. Norton then passed to Ciccone for 4, Howell ran for 8 and then Howell ran for 2 and the TD to make it 28-14 with 3:27 left in the half.

Valencia started at the 18 and went incomplete, pass for 1, sack and then punt.

Hart started at the Valencia 42: run by Norton for 2, incomplete, pass to Surratt for 17, sack for -4, run by Norton for 15, incomplete, incomplete and then on 3rd down and 12 seconds left, Norton hit Elledge for the TD and it was 28-21 with 4 seconds left. Valencia took a knee to finish the half.

Valencia clearly had the better of it in the first half with almost 300 yards of offense.

Norton was 8 of 16 for 129 yards and 2 TDs. Hart 97 yards rushing on 14 carries between Howell 10 carries for 54 yards) and Norton (4 carries for 43 yards) and 1 TD.

Herrick was 16 of 27, 245 yards and 2 TDs. Valencia had 48 yards rushing on 10 carries and 2 TDs in the first half.

After half, Hart really picked up where they left off. Ciccone had a 73-yard kickoff return to the Valencia 25. The first play from scrimmage was a 16 yard pass to Ciccone and Norton ran it in for a TD on the next play to make it 28-28 at 11:14 in the third.

Valencia got a 12-yard return to the 14: run for 17, pass for 9, pass for 11, run for -3, pass for 5, pass for 0 and punt.

Hart started at the 26: pass to Leigh for 9, run by Norton for 3, pass to Whitmore for 46, run by Norton for -2 (not a sack), pass to Elledge for 14 and run by Howell for 2 and the TD. Hart 35-28 with 5:23 in the third.

Valencia got a 10 yard return and started at the 26: incomplete, pass for 20, pass for 2, pass for 15, run for -3, holding for about an 11 yard loss, pass for 7, QB run for 9 making it 4th down. Valencia was at the Hart 49 and went for it. The runner was stopped well short of the first down but Hart got nailed for a facemask which gave Valencia a first down at the 35. 15 yard run, pass for 9, incomplete, run for 2 (end of quarter), run for 2, run for 1 and on third down a 3-yard run by Tisdale for the TD to make it 35-35 with 10:27 remaining.

Hart started the 31 following a 12 yard return by Toledo (Valencia finally got the idea to stay away from Ciccone): run by Norton for 7, run by Howell for 1, run by Norton for 1 and punt.

Valencia started at the 24 with 7:52 left in the game: a long pass was nullified by a holding call which backed the ball to the 11. Incomplete, pass for 1, incomplete and punt.

Hart started at the Valencia 37 with 6:32 to go: run by Toledo for 4, run by Norton for 1, pass to Whitmore for 12, run by Howell for 18 down to the 1 and a first down. The next play was a one-yard run by Howell which looked to be a TD but was marked on about the 6 inch line. The next play was a run by Norton that also was ruled to be just short. The third down play was also a run by Norton that certainly looked like a TD but also was ruled short. Hart called timeout with 1:58 left. Howell then ran it in on the next play to make it 42-35 Hart with 1:55 to play.

Valencia started the last series at the 21: pass for 9, incomplete, pass for 12, pass for4, pass for 13, pass for 0, pass for 9, incomplete, run by the QB on fourth down for 2 for a first down at the Hart 32 and 17 seconds left. Incomplete (spike) and then on the last play an INT to Ciccone in the endzone.

In the second half, Norton was 5-5 and 97 yards. Hart had 46 yards rushing on 14 carries (Norton was 8 carries for 19 yards, Howell 5 for 23 yards and Toledo 1 for 4 yards). All three second half TDs were rushing.

Norton finished the night at 13 of 21, 2 TDs and 226 yards. He also had 62 yards rushing and a TD.

Herrick's yardage numbers dropped off considerably in the second half. He was 16 of 24 but only 126 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. Valencia had 35 yards rushing on 10 carries in the second half. Herrick finished at 32 of 51 with 2 TDs, 1 INT and 371 yards.

The big difference was Ciccone's return yards of 30, 35, 24 and 73, a total of 162 yards. That coupled with his 88 yards on three receptions plus an INT amounts to a big night in anyone's book.

My beefs about the game: Valencia fans have taken to referring to Hart as "Newhall High School" and in fact had t-shirts printed up saying "Go Valencia beat Newhall High School" along with similar signage. One can only suppose this is because some areas of Newhall are pretty poor and entirely Latino whereas the portions of Valencia that attend Valencia High School are lily-white. In short, from my perspective it can only be construed as a slur on Hart's hispanic students.

The Hart running game still bugs me. Howell had a lot of first down rushes and most of the time only got a couple of yards. In part this was because Hart was running out of the shotgun. However, Howell was not helping himself too much. He too often goes "looking" for a hole. He's a big powerful kid. If the hole ain't there he needs to "make" it. When he dances around he gets nothing. While Howell is fast he is not all that quick nor does he have the super acceleration but he does have the ability to simply trample people. When he starts dancing around looking for a hole he deprives himself of his major asset.

The Hart defense seemed very tentative in the first half and played way off most of the receivers. Herrick just passed underneath and ate Hart up. Because Herrick was starting out of a shotgun and taking a deep drop besides, there was little chance he was going to get it way down field (and he fact, he completed only one deep pass which was called back on a hold). The Hart D started to get control of things mid-way through the second quarter and while Herrick still continued to complete passes, the yardage dropped off considerably [Herrick had 219 yards in the first quarter and only 152 in the remaining 3 quarters). Hart often had 5 DBs in the second half making it even more difficult. Hart looked to really be taking over the game in the third quarter and fourth quarter and had in fact stopped Valencia on 4th down very late in the third only to have a face mask call allow Valencia to keep the ball and later score. But for that screwup, Valencia really had trouble moving the ball in the second half.

I do give the Vikings credit for a lot of tenacity. No one has run away from them all year. Prior to this game, Valencia has had the lead in a Hart-Valencia game only once -- the first time they had the ball in the very first game. Here they not only had a lead, but a 21 point lead. However things remain the same. Hart is now 10-0 versus Valencia. The Hart JV won 21-7.

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