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[Excerpts from a letter to my son]
Hart kicked off and on the first play from scrimmage, the Palmdale tailback ran 80 yards for a touchdown. It was called
back on an illegal motion penalty. Whew!
Hart scored on a 25-yard pass play from Neill to Nate Small toward the end of the first quarter to go ahead 7-0.
In the second quarter, Hart scored on a short run by Neill. The extra point was good, but the ref nullified it on a chop
block call. Chop blocking on an extra point? I don't think it''s possible. And don't you get to kick again from farther back?
Not according to these refs.
On the kick off, the Palmdale linemen were bunched near the middle of the field. The Hart kicker lofted it to the left
sideline and Jerry Owens caught it (in the air) about 12 yards down field. The refs said that was illegal and gave the ball
to Palmdale. I need to get a rule book. I'm not sure that was right. In any event, would it not be a penalty which should
have warranted yardage or a re-kick? [Post game edit: it was the correct call; on an onside kick the ball must hit the ground
or an opposing player]
Shortly thereafter, when Hart had the ball, the Palmdale defense was called for 12 men on the field -- before the ball
was snapped (it was never snapped). The refs finally figured out they couldn't call that and waved it off (they were arguing
among themselves by this point).
In the third quarter Hart got called for ten men on the field on offense. No such animal! The only requirement is that
you have 7 men on the line. Since it was the tailback that was missing, it was clear that there were seven men on the line.
In all there were probably about 20 penalties.
Hart was ahead at half 13-0 and the score remained the same well into the fourth quarter. Hart scored with about 3 minutes
to go to make it 20-0 and that's how it ended.
Neill was 7 of 12 for 155 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 99 yards and played safety. Hart was missing two starters
on the offensive line and one on defense plus a couple of other players didn't practice most of the week, including Scott
Hunt.
Palmdale was 3-0 and ranked third before the game. Hart should move up to number 2 ahead of Palmdale and Ayala (who lost
to Bishop Amat rather badly) and could possible move to number one if Dominguez should lose to Long Beach Poly.
Dominguez has the best player in high school at quarterback. Jason Thomas is about 6'5", 215, and the fastest, quickest
guy on the field. Unfortunately, he dislocated his ankle and broke his leg at Antelope Valley on Friday.
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