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[Comments to my son in a letter]
Hart played Palmdale in the quarterfinals of the playoffs. Palmdale was the Golden league champs and on an 8-game winning
streak having last lost to Hart in the third week of the season. The score of the earlier game was 20-0, Hart. However, it
was much closer than that. Palmdale had an 80-yard run called back on the first play of the game and Hart scored a touchdown
in the last minute.
Everyone was expecting a tough game this time around, especially since it had rained a lot during the week and was very
cold. Hart took them apart. On the first play on offense, Hart lined up in its double tackle formation (essentially two tightends).
Kyle Boller was the second tight end. On the snap, he dropped back and out and Neill threw the ball to him. Boller then threw
it about 50 yards down field for a completion. Hart scored a few plays later. Hart ran a bunch of razzle dazzle plays (double
and triple handoffs sometimes with a pitch back to the QB and then a pass) and did all of them very well. Palmdale tried some
similar plays and just seemed to blow it.
Hart made a defensive change which proved to be decisive. The coaches moved John Harrison, normally a D-end (and the hardest
hitter and strongest player on the team) to linebacker and put the JV running back at D-end. The JV guy's job was to essentially
"block" the tight end (Palmdale has a tight end/defensive end who is 6'5" 280 and really strong). This allowed
Harrison to go where ever he wanted without hindrance. Harrison had several tackles behind the line of scrimmage (7?) and
in a sequence of three plays put out the Palmdale QB and running back on extraordinarily hard hits. Hart was up 14-0 at half
and then went up 21-0 (I think I have the right sequence of scores).
Palmdale, a running team, scored on a very long pass play, primarily because the Hart corner, Jerry Owens slipped and
fell. Owens has not been the strongest on tackling but he is a great cover guy a la Deion Sanders. He's about 6'3" and
the fastest guy on the team. He had one interception earlier in the game when the Palmdale QB tried to throw over him and
he just jumped up and picked it off.
After the Palmdale score, Neill threw a 57-yard completion to Owens (payback!). Hart won 28-6 and it wasn't nearly that
close. Palmdale had about 40 yards rushing total. It was one of the best games I've ever seen Hart play (it ranks second after
the championship game a couple of years ago). Hart dominated every aspect of the game except punting. (It was cold and wet
and Neill squibbed a couple.)
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