Valencia Gets Half a Chance

VALENCIA —  Manuel White’s rushing statistics told the story better than the final score: Twenty-eight carries, 93 yards, one touchdown.

That’s the same Manuel White who rushed for 543 yards and scored 11 touchdowns in his last two games for Valencia High.

“That is absolutely amazing that White got under 100 yards,” defensive coordinator Rick Herrington of Hart said. “How many teams can say that? We just flew to the ball.”

Hart, trying to prove it is the region’s top high school football team of the 1990s, won its 41st consecutive Foothill League game and moved closer to its ninth consecutive league championship with a 42-21 victory over Valencia Thursday night before a capacity crowd of more than 8,000 at College of the Canyons.

“Our goal is to win league and this puts us right in the driver’s seat,” Coach Mike Herrington said.

After a 21-21 halftime tie, quarterback Kyle Matter of Hart demoralized the Vikings (6-2, 2-1) with two third-quarter touchdown passes.

He threw a short pass to Garrett Fuller, who raced 55 yards for a touchdown. Then Matter fired a 41-yard touchdown pass to Jared Bazar.

Valencia was finished.

“Those two plays were the crushing blow for us,” Coach Brian Stiman of Valencia said. “But Hart is notorious for coming out in the second half and striking quickly.”

White learned that running at will against the likes of Burbank and Burroughs doesn’t compare to taking hits from UCLA-bound linebacker Patrick Norton, whose Hart jersey was covered with dirt.

“We took him out of the game,” Norton said.

Seven times Valencia had the ball in the second half. Seven times the Vikings failed to reach the end zone.

Quarterback Kyle Bauer, who was effective in the first half when he completed eight of 11 passes for 128 yards, was one of 11 for zero yards in the second half.

Matter completed 10 of 19 passes for 222 yards and three touchdowns, giving him 30 touchdown passes in eight games for Hart (8-0, 3-0).

Bazar, who drops passes about as often as it rains in October, caught six passes for 141 yards and two touchdowns. Norton scored twice on one-yard plunges.

Hart players were in an angry mood before the game because someone vandalized the Newhall campus Wednesday night, painting Valencia’s purple and gold around school.

But after disposing of their latest and possibly toughest challenge this season, the top-ranked Indians weren’t about to rest easy.

“There’s no time to think we’re that good,” Norton said. “We’re always trying to work harder.”

Few play the game as relentlessly as Norton, who’s always in attack mode.

“He just loves every aspect of football,” Mike Herrington said. “He’d probably rather play in a field of mud instead of grass because he wants to get dirty. He’s so fun to watch.”

Six minutes into the game, Hart held a 14-0 lead and was thinking blowout. But the Vikings rallied behind the most unlikely of weapons--the pass.

Bauer, taking advantage of some aggressive play calling by offensive coordinator Harry Welch, connected with Stephen Stokes on a 65-yard touchdown pass play and hit Pedro Fernandez for a 13-yard touchdown pass, tying the game early in the second quarter.

After Hart regained the lead on a 35-yard touchdown reception by Bazar, the Vikings ended the half with a 78-yard, 13-play drive that White completed by running two yards for a touchdown.

Although the game was tied at halftime, the psychological edge seemed to belong to Valencia.

The Vikings out-gained the Indians, 227-120 against a Hart defense that had allowed 47 points all season.

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Big League

Hart extended its league winning streak to 41 games with a 42-21 victory over Valencia on Thursday night. A look at the state’s top league winning streaks:

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SCHOOL STREAK Sylmar 69 Salinas Palma 68 Concord De La Salle 62 Carpinteria 54 Fresno 46 S.F. Polytechnic 45 Loomis Del Oro 44

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