Well here goes. First some preliminaries. Then the details. Then some gloating (hey, we're entitled!).

First, the Home Depot Center is a spectacular place for high school championships. Its set up for football/soccer which means most of the seats are close to the field with a good view. From the Hart perspective the location is infinitely better than the Ed (or at least about 25 miles better). Parking's great. Really nice turf. Great lighting. And, of course, great result.

Second, and most importantly, Hart played spectacularly well. What a great TEAM effort. All the kids that were necessary elements had great games tonight. I have said for years that there are no better practice coaches in SoCal. The Herringtons and the rest of the Hart staff prepare for games better than any staff around and did it show tonight.

Third, one has to be careful about reading one's own press releases. You may actually start to believe them. Mission Viejo supporters and players have been saying more and more how completely dominate they are (WERE!). They seem to have forgotten that they beat Hart last year only 10-6, scored only 8 points on offense and that with a distinct "equipment" (aka painted ball) advantage. This season, they squeaked by Fountain Valley and a dunderhead Poly team and seemed to think they were wholly and vastly superior to everyone based on those two games and the trampling of a lot of creampuffs in their own league. Ain't no dimwits on the Hart staff. And is there any player more intensely competitive than Sean Norton in the big games?

Fourth, --- and this is what I've been waiting to type all the way on the drive home -- Saugus, SAUGUS scored more points than MV against Hart. Burbank, BURBANK scored as many points. ----- Oh that felt good!

Now the details. Hart won the toss and deferred. Mission Viejo started on the 20 and went pass for 0, run for 1 and run for 2 and punt. This was a portent of things to come. The Hart defense, particularly the linebackers were as aggressive and ferocious as they have been at any time this season and the tackling was as solid as it gets.

Hart took over at the 33: pass to Ciccone (from an empty backfield) for 12, pass to Surratt for 4, then a run by Howell right through the very center of the MV defense for 51 yards and a TD (please note that Howell was pulling away from the defenders as he went down field). Hart 7-0 at 8:58.

MV got about 21 yards on the kickoff return and started at the 31: run for 4, run for 4, run 1 and punt.

Hart started at the 21: Ciccone on a slot-counter play for -5, pass to Wolfe for 12, pass to Surratt for 17, run by Howell for 4, then an incomplete to Surratt along the sideline and then an incomplete (a drop by Wolfe on a pass down the middle that might easily have gone for a TD). On the punt the snap was over Howell's head but he made a nice recovery and got the punt off.

MV started at the 32: incomplete, penalty (holding) for -10, pass to Collins for 18, run for 5 then a 40-yard pass to #2 down to the Hart 15 (misplayed by the Hart defender). On the next play, a sweep to the right, the Hart defense swarmed to the ball, Ciccone stripped the ball and Hart recovered on the 14.

Hart: run by Howell for 4, a sack (due to a bad snap -- something that plagued Hart all night) for -6, an incomplete to Whitmore and then a punt.

MV started at the Hart 48: run by Tadman for no gain [END OF FIRST QUARTER], run for 8, run for -1, run for 5, pass for 3, run for 4, incomplete (by Tadman after a pitch), incomplete on fourth down and Hart took over.

Hart started at the 29: run by Howell for 2, pass to Surratt for 5, pass to Wolfe for 5, penalty on MV for illegal substitution, run by Ciccone for 9, run by Howell for 9, run by Norton for 1, pass to Whitmore for 15, pass to Ciccone for 6, run by Wolfe for 2 down to the three yard line. Then on another bad snap (or more correctly, poor exchange), Hart fumbled and MV recovered on the 4 yard line. (Hey MV fans: that's two "whew" plays already: the dropped pass by Wolfe and then the bad exchange, two errors by Hart that your vaunted defense had little to do with).

MV: run for 6, run for 10, run for 4 pass for a 1 yard loss, screen pass for -1 and punt.

Hart took over at the Hart 40 with 55 seconds left in the half. Pass to Ciccone on a "jail break" screen for 14, pass right down the middle to Whitmore for 26, pass to Wolfe for 4, a sack on another bad/fumbled snap for a 3 yard loss, 19-yard pass to Ciccone in the endzone for a TD with 17 seconds left. The PAT was wide left. 13-0 Hart.

MV ran one pass play before half.

First half stats: Norton was 13 of 16, 145 yards and 1 TD. Howell had 73 yards on 6 carries. Norton had -8 on 3 carries (all problems with the snaps), Ciccone had 4 yards on 2 carries and Wolfe had 2 on one carry.

Sanchez was 8 of 10 for 69 yards. Tadman was 0 for 1 passing. The critical factor here was that but for the one long pass (which the Hart corner missplayed), MV was getting almost nothing as far as yardage on the passes (4 completions were for 0 yards or a loss). MV had 55 yards on 14 carries. In my view, MV was very fortunate to go into the locker room trailing only 13-0.

Hart took the second half kickoff and started at the 23: run by Howell for 6, pass to Wolfe for 2, pass to Ciccone for 15, run by Howell for 1, pass to Surratt for 7, run by Howell for 3, run by Howell for 2, run by Norton for 10 and then as pretty a pass you'll ever see, Norton floating it down the field to Wolfe in the corner of the endzone on the left. Hart went for 2 and did not get it. Hart 19-0 at 7:16 of the third quarter.

MV got a fairly nice return on the ensuing kickoff but got called for a holding call which forced them to start on the 15. On the next play they got nailed for a chop block which moved it back to about the 8. On the next play Hart was a hair's breadth from sacking the QB who escaped and turned it into a huge, 26-yard scramble. Run for 5, delay penalty and then a great INT by Moore who out-dueled Tadman for the ball.
Hart started at the 35: run by Norton for 2 (Norris Whitmore was hurt on this play, taken off the field, some sort of splint put on, crutches supplied and did not play again -- but a couple of great catches for Whitmore earlier!); sack for -11 (ANOTHER snap problem), but no problem --pass to Surratt for 55, run by Howell for 3, run by Howell for 5, incomplete (Norton was flushed out). On fourth down, Hart called timeout and then sent Wolfe to the back left of the endzone and Norton lofted it up to him. Wolfe simply outjumped the opposition and came down with the TD from 11 yards out. The PAT missed again (hit the upright; the first time that Whitmore was not the holder all year). Hart 25-0 at 2:05 in the third.

MV started at the 28: pass for 9, incomplete, run for 12, incomplete, incomplete, incomplete and then on fourth down, an INT by Surratt (who probably saved himself a chewing out by returning the ball back to the MV 48 for net one yard gain on the exhcange).

Hart: run by Howell for 3. [END OF THIRD QUARTER]. At this point things REALLY deteriorated all the way around: penalty for illegal block (after a nice gain) for -13, penalty (holding) for -15, another fumbled/bad snap for a -4 yard loss by Norton, a penalty for delay for -5 (you might note that its 3rd and 44 at this point), run by Ciccone for 2 and punt.

MV got a nice 15 yard return and started at the Hart 43: incomplete, run for 4, pass to Tadman for 12, incomplete, incomplete, INT by Ciccone in the endzone.

Hart started at the 20: run by Howell for 3, run by Howell for 8, loss on another snap problem (Norton covered the ball), run by Howell for -4 due to ANOTHER bad snap, but no matter -- pass to Surratt for 41, run by Howell for 2, ANOTHER fumbled snap for a 1 yard loss, a delay penalty and then punt.

Mission got the ball back and started at the 10 with 3:51 to go and Hart playing pretty deep: pass for 19 (No 2), pass for 20 (2) pass for 8 (2), draw play that got smothered by blitzers for -5, pass for 42 (2) down to the 4, run for 2, then after the last time out was called by MV --- Tadman came in at QB and ran it in. 25-7 at 2:19.

Hart got the onside kick (Wilson) and started at the MV 48: another fumbled/bad snap for -4, a delay penalty for -5, knee for -2, another delay for -5 and it was all over.

Second half stats: Norton was 7 of 8 for 162 yards and 2 TDs to Wolfe. Howell had 32 yards on 11 carries -- only one for a loss and that was after a botched snap. Ciccone had 1 run for 2 yards. Norton gets charged, I suppose, with 10 carries for -22 but ALL of that was due to snap problems and then taking a knee.

MV stats were, well, pretty dismal. The QB was 6 of 16 for 110 yards and 3 INTS. Even that is deceiving as 4 of the 6 receptions and 89 of the yards came at the very end of the game when Hart was letting MV complete the underneath passes. MV had 46 yards rushing on 7 carries -- 26 of that was on the QB scramble on the first series.
Overall, Norton was 20 of 24, 307 yards and 3 TDs. Howell had 99 yards on 17 carries.

Some additional comments. As I noted above, I think that MV's players, and probably to a certain extent, their coaches, really believed all the hype on the boards and the papers. Clearly, based on the commentary on this board, they had convinced themselves that they were overwhelmingly better than anyone.

I, for one, refrained from posting any pre-game analysis this week. I certainly did not want to contribute to any sort of analysis that would have disabused them of the notion of their own greatness. Certainly none of the published quotes from the Hart players or coaches were anything more than "MV's good" and "we've been waiting a year for this." The only other comment that would have given anyone pause was the comment, twice, by Coach Herrington that Hart quite probably would have been 13-0 going into the game if Wolfe had been available all season. Anyone care to disagree with that analysis?

While I realize this is easy to say post-game, I had no doubt that Hart's offense would do well. Last year, Hart's offensive problem against MV was the overwhelming injury problems in the offensive line and the unbelievably good MV front 7 on defense. This year may well have been one of Hart's best offensive lines EVER. MV really didn't get to Norton much all night -- the real and inexplicable problem for the Hart offense was the exchanges between the center and Norton. I'll be interested to know what that was all about.

Second, Howell was a huge factor compared to last year. Starting last week, he ran at a hole, hard, all but one play (on his first carry he went searching for a hole last week). Tonight he ran straight up field, hard, every time he had the ball. He had only one run for a loss and that wasn't his fault at all but another bad exchange. And then there was that 51-yard gem.

Third, the dependability of the Hart receivers was awesome. Only 4 passes were not caught and one of those was a chuck out-of-bounds. The balance was remarkable: Whitmore had 2 catches for 41, Surratt had 6 for 129, Ciccone had 6 for 73 and a TD and Wolfe had 6 for 65 and 2 TDs.

Finally, regarding the offense -- Norton is, as I have said before, intensely competitive and at his best in these situations (absent damaged ribs or a concussion). Hey college coaches take note! The kid's a great athlete and more importantly, he's a winner!

Regarding the defense: Unlike others I thought the Hart defense would do well (but not THIS well). What it came down to was speed. MV's players, for all their other talents, are not particularly fast at any position. Certainly not faster than Hart. As a result, the Hart guys could play up closer at all positions. The LBs got to the ball very fast on runs. Receivers, with two exceptions -- one in each half -- got virtually no yards after the catch and got rocked a few times as well.

The much hyped Ciccone-Tadman matchup was about as lopsided as it can get. Other than the problem with the snaps, Hart was really on their game. Mission Viejo was not.

Finally, one last shot. Last year, for those who were at the game final game, there was all that obnoxious pre-game strutting and dancing as the MV players were announced and, of course the infamous painted during game. This year it was the incessant chest-thumping for the last 3 or 4 weeks and then during the game (and I don't know if they showed this on TV), MV sent three guys into the Hart sideline huddle on every change of possession in the first half: cheesy at best and certainly classless. Interestingly, it stopped about the time Hart went up 19-0.

Oh and about that streak. Its 0-1.

Okay. No more gloating. I'll try to be polite from here on out.

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