HART KEEPS THINGS ROLLING
Prep football: Indians continue winning ways with double-digit victory over Centurions
After starting the season 0-2, the Hart football team won three straight games to close out its preleague schedule on a positive note.
The Indians continued that positive trend on Friday night at College of the Canyons, defeating Saugus 35-20 to begin their Foothill League slate.
Senior running back Taden Littleford led the way for Hart’s offense, rushing for 108 yards and a touchdown in the first half. He finished with 186 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries, including a 53-yard run in the first half and a 62-yard run near the end of the game to seal it.
“I felt great but it’s all about the linemen,” Littleford said. “They opened up the holes and I just follow, that’s it.”
“He can go, he goes the whole game and he doesn’t stop,” Travis Gill said about Littleford. “I thought he’d be tired after the game, he’s carrying the load, but he finds a way to get it done. He’s a beast.”
Gill led a Hart defense that shut out Saugus in the first half and pressured quarterback Colton FitzGerald throughout the contest.
Gill recorded a sack and also had an interception and a fumble recovery.
“I think we played very well on defense in the first half,” Gill said. “They got a couple of drives and big plays in the second half. We got the ‘W,’ created turnovers when it mattered, that’s what it comes down to.”
“We really stepped up as a group, as a defense,” said Ashton Thomas. “As the season goes on we’re becoming more of a nucleus and that’s really what I love to see. Everybody
making plays, everybody stepping up. It just can’t be one person. The defense is all 11 guys, I’m proud of them.”
Hart struck on its opening drive of the game, which was capped off by a 2-yard touchdown run by quarterback Zach Johnson.
The very next drive, Littleford carried the ball three times for a total of 63 yards that concluded with a 2-yard touchdown run.
Hart’s third touchdown came on a fourth-and-goal from the Centurions’ 14yard line, as Johnson was able to evade pressure to buy time and find an open Thomas in the end zone.
Saugus came roaring back in the second half, as FitzGerald built a solid drive that ended with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Cade Gallagher.
Johnson connected with Angelo Lucchese on a deep ball for a 49-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, giving Hart a commanding 28-7 lead.
But the Centurions kept coming and FitzGerald was able to find Azariah Beaugard for a 12-yard score.
Saugus then went for an onside kick and recovered, leading to an 8-yard touchdown pass from FitzGerald to Gallagher to bring the score to 28-20 after the PAT was missed.
Once again, Saugus went for the onside kick and almost recovered, but the Centurions couldn’t get a grip on the ball as it trickled out of bounds. Shortly after, Littleford broke off his 62-yard run to get near the goal line and put the final stamp on the game.
“Everything is repairable, it’s not doom and gloom,” said Saugus head coach Jason Bornn. “We have to go back to the drawing board and work on the things we need to work on, catching the ball, making the blocks, running the right routes, making sure our center can hear the quarterback, different things like that.
“It’s all repairable. You like to think that we’ve had two weeks to prepare for tonight’s contest we wouldn’t have to go back and repair things, but it is what it is.”
The Indians will have another challenge awaiting next week as they take on the Valencia Vikings, who won their league opener against Canyon.
The Centurions will look to rebound against the Golden Valley Grizzlies, who lost their league opener to West Ranch.
“We really stepped up as a group, as a defense. As the season goes on we’re becoming more of a nucleus and that’s really what I love to see. Everybody making plays, everybody stepping up. It just can’t be one person. The defense is all 11 guys, I’m proud of them.”
Ashton Thomas,
Hart defensive back