Time Runs On for Hart, but It Runs Out on Burroughs : Indians Use Ground Game to Reach Northwestern Final

At game’s end, it was cold and raining, but Andy Iacenda wasn’t bothered.

It was his kind of night.

“I love it,” the Hart senior fullback said, cracking a smile on his muddy face. “We had to do it in the mud. We had to run the ball.”

And run Hart did, beating Santa Maria, 21-7, in the Northwestern Conference semifinal football game on a drenched Dave Boyd Field on a dreary Friday night.

The victory--Hart’s 12th in 13 games--enables the Indians to meet Temple City, a winner over Burroughs, in the final next week.

For the record, the statistics will show that Hart quarterback Jim Bonds threw touchdown passes of 33 and 17 yards to tight end David Lee and tailback Chris Hite.

But, because of weather conditions, the Southern Section’s most prolific quarterback was only 5 of 12 for 107 yards, with 1 interception.

Hart won this one by running right at Santa Maria.

“We have a goal-line offense and we used it tonight,” Hart Coach Rick Scott said. “We’re fortunate to have two excellent tight ends, a big, strong line and a big back. We just went right at them, and Andy turned into a workhorse tonight.”

Iacenda, called the Bull at 6-0, 225 pounds, plowed through the mud for 107 yards on 19 carries, including a 10-yard touchdown run.

Hite, usually most useful as a receiver out of the backfield, contributed 85 yards on 12 carries.

“I knew both of us could do it,” Iacenda said. “Tonight we knew we had to.”

Hart’s aggressive defensive unit also had to come up with the big plays. And it did, intercepting a pass and recovering three fumbles.

“Our defense is just getting better every week,” Scott said. “They were tremendous. They made the plays. They should have gotten a shutout.”

Despite a muddy field, Hart took the opening kickoff and drove methodically 85 yards in 8plays to take 7-0 lead.

Bonds called six consecutive running plays, then surprised Santa Maria with a short pass over the middle that Lee turned into a 33-yard touchdown reception.

Junior Rosbia returned the ensuing kickoff to Hart’s 32-yard line. But, four plays later, Hart defensive tackle Jim Vander Toorn recovered quarterback Matt Almaguer’s fumble at the 7-yard line.

Another Santa Maria scoring threat ended late in the second quarter when Craig Whitten blocked Almaguer’s 41-yard field-goal attempt.

But the Saints tied the score, 7-7, midway in the second quarter when Jackman Lablanc ran off tackle for a 17-yard touchdown. The score was set up after Hite fumbled.

Hart recaptured the lead on the ensuing kickoff, again driving long and methodically.

Andy Iacenda, who had 70 yards on 11 carries in the first half, scored on a 10-yard run up the middle to conclude an 80-yard, 11-play drive that took more than five minutes.

In the first half, Bonds had only six passing attempts, completing 3 for 67 yards and throwing an interception.

With field conditions worse, both teams were conservative in the second half.