The Indians played St. Bonaventure Seraphs who came into the game with a 43-game winning streak. When the Seraphs came out onto the field you could see there were a lot of studs.

Hart kicked off into the endzone and St. Bonnie started at the 20. Whitney Lewis got 9 yards on the first play (this looked a little scary!). St B ran 3 different kids on the ensuing 3 plays and managed to get a first down and move the ball out to the 40. They hung up there and after a sack and incomplete pass, punted.

Hart's first possession: incomplete, incomplete, pass to Ciccone for 30 yards, run for 0, illegal procedure, pass to Howard for 32, pass to Ciccone for 17 and a touchdown. Hart 7-0 at 6:26 in the first quarter.

St B again started at the 20 and Cody Kase intercepted a pass on the first play. Hart, on three running plays (the biggy a 15-yarder by Norton) scored and it was 14-0 at 5:18 in the first quarter.

Because of a roughing call on the PAT, Hart tried an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff but St. B recovered. The St. B series, starting at the 37 went run for 4, incomplete, incomplete and punt.

Hart got one first down on the next series on a 12-yard run by Howard, followed by minus 3 on a run by Norton, a sack, an incomplete and a Hart punt.

St B started at the 12 and went a total of 7 plays and out.

Hart started at the 21 and went 3 and out (there were some penalties in these two series that slowed both teams down a bit).

On the ensuing punt, Lewis returned the kick 55 yards to the Hart 10. The next play was a pass for a two-yard loss. Then the first real killer for St. Bonnie: an interception in the endzone by Dan Howell.

Hart's next series: 18-yard run by Howard, incomplete (big drop by Kase), 25-yard pass to Kase (good coaching: came right back to him), 2-yard run by Norton, 12-yard pass to Wolfe, 12-yard run by Howard and then a TD pass, 12 yards to Kase. Hart 21-0 at 7:40 in the 2nd quarter.

For St. B, Lewis showed his stuff again: 7-yard run, 2-yard run, 58-yard run over most of the Hart defense for a TD. The PAT was blocked. 21-6 at 6:28 in the second.

Hart moved from its 20 to the St B 39 but ran out of downs. St B moved from their 39 to the Hart 11 but also ran out of downs (Lewis had runs of 15, 14 and 4 on the series). Hart took a knee and it was 21-6 at half.

Norton was 9 for 20 for 166 yards and 2 TDs. Hart had 60 yards rushing.

ST B was 4 for 10, 28 yards and 2 INTS but had 134 yards on the ground, almost all of them by Lewis, over half on one play.

Hart took the second half kickoff (twice - a rekick because of offsetting penalties). Hart started at the 20 and scored 3 minutes later, the two big plays being a 21-yard, third down pass to Ciccone and a 35-yard, third down pass to Ciccone for the TD. Hart 28-6 at 9:09 in the third.

St B started at the 20 and ran 3 straight plays with Lewis and got a first down at the 30; there followed 6 plays and a punt from the 40.

Hart started at the 12. The first play was a 3-yard Howard run. Then the biggie of the night for Hart: a 67-yard pass to sophomore Ryan Wolfe down to the 15. Following an IP penalty, Hart got down to the 10 on a 13-yard pass to Ciccone. Hart settled for a 30-yard field goal and it was 31-6 Hart with 3:38 left in the third.

St B: 3 and out.

Hart: 2 and fumble by Norton on a BIG hit (or should I say hits).

St B: 4 running plays for +3, +6 (barely short of a first down), no gain, and on fourth down, -6.

Hart started at the 40: 3 and out.

St. B started at the 22:, Incomplete, incomplete, pass to Lewis, -2 on a run, no gain, interception.

Hart: 23-yard pass to Ciccone then 3 and a sack.

St B: pass 8, pass 13, inc., inc., sack, punt.

Hart:5 plays and its over.

Second half stats:

Norton was 6 of 10 for 180 yards and a touchdown for a total of 15 of 30, 346 yards and 3 TDs.

Second half for St B: 5 for 14, 49 yards and an INT. Total was 9 for 24, 77 yards and 3 INTS.

Rushing second half for St B: net 9 yards for a total of 201 yards from scrimmage for the game, passing and rushing.

COMMENTS

Obviously, Hart's offense was ready to go. While Norton was only 15 of 30, an unusually low percentage for a Hart QB, as noted elsewhere, he really made the completions count. Thirteen of his 15 completions were for a first down or a TD! He averaged over 23 yards per completion, another astonishing number considering the calibre of the opposition. His receivers had a spat of the droppsies in the first half [in the middle of the half Norton had a stretch were he was 0-6] or his numbers would have been huge.

Year and year out, Hart's defense simply does not get enough credit. While they sometimes get a little "bendable" in the middle of the field they are really tough to move on from about the 30 on in. While they give up a rare big play (Lewis had a 58-yard run from scrimmage and a 55-yard punt return [punter boomed it beyond the coverage]), they don't allow that sort of yardage with any consistency and other teams never really find a rythmn.

A couple of other thoughts: St B had far better athletes overall compared to Hart and far more speed. The difference, in my mind, was that St B was trying to rely entirely on their athletic ability, allowing Hart to really concentrate on Lewis, particularly in the second half. St. B is sort of a minature version of LBP; great athletes who rely heavily on that athleticism over precise team play. Hart is a superbly prepared and disciplined TEAM. The kids are where they are supposed to be on every play, doing what they are supposed to do. You could sometimes see the bewilderment on the St B defense "where'd that guy come from, I thought we had 'em all covered."

The St B's guys hit like a ton of bricks given the chance. Howard, Norton and Kase and probably Ciccone are going being nursing some bruises for a few days.

Hart's Norton was pretty much on the money all night. The St B QB was off the mark most of the night and the 3 INTs were complete killers for St B.

St. B went heavy on the blitz but got burned a couple of times early on and backed off which only made it easy for Norton.

St. B needs to put Lewis in better situations to take advantage of his gifts. As a wideout, Hart pretty much had him covered. While he had some receptions (only 1 in the first half, 2 or 3 in the second [my notes aren't clear], the Hart defenders really kept on him. Ryan Wolfe, Hart's soph WR/DB, really did on a job on him.

When St B put Lewis at RB, he killed Hart initially but the Hart defense recovered fairly quickly the next time around. When he was just running straight handoffs from the tailback spot the Indians really shut him down, including some losses.

St B swing passes, draws and screens were non-existent. Lewis one-on-one is an incredibly difficult opponent and St B just did not get him in that position often enough.

The flipside is that Hart has four really good receivers out there (sticky hands!) and Paxton Howard at RB is big enough and fast enough to prevent teams from teeing off too much on the QB.

Westlake next week should be interesting with regard to the blitz. Last time Hart played at Westlake, two years ago, Kyle Matter was sacked 11 or 12 times but Hart had 0 running game that night. Can't wait for this Friday.

To St. B: Hart really had your number when the Indians had the ball; but then that's true most of the time. However, it was the same thing when the Indians were on defense. Quite frankly given the talent you had on the field, that should not have been the case. Hart took advantage of every mistake you made (the 3 INTs) and the fairly predictable play-calling and there you have it. End of streak. But a new streak starts next week, right.

Additional Comment: Whitney Lewis is one of the two best players Hart has faced in the last five years, the other being Matt Ware of Loyola [Manual White is not on this list].

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