Well-Rounded Blackwell Lifts Hart’s Offense

Hart High’s Howard Blackwell does not have overwhelming statistics in any offensive category, but the senior tailback remains the only area player among the top 10 in rushing yardage, receptions and scoring.

Blackwell (5-foot-10, 175 pounds) scored four touchdowns for the second consecutive game in Hart’s 47-11 rout of Burroughs on Friday. Blackwell’s 14 touchdowns give him 84 points, third among Valley scoring leaders.

He has rushed for 519 yards (ninth) and nine touchdowns in 85 carries (a 6.1-yard average). He also has caught 21 passes (eighth) for 425 yards and five touchdowns.

“I think he’s the best back in the Valley,” Hart Coach Mike Herrington said. “It’s just that we’re a throwing team and he’s not going to get a lot of rushing yards.”

Defense: Nick Ochoa, a 5-11, 215-pound defensive end at Thousand Oaks, has a team-high 14 sacks--11 in the past two weeks. Ochoa had seven against Simi Valley and added four in a 21-0 win over Camarillo last week.

Canyon defensive back Joe McKeon, in his first varsity start, tied a school record with three interceptions against Ridgecrest Burroughs.

Offense: Canyon quarterback Tim Beidle tied a school record with five touchdown passes against Ridgecrest Burroughs.

Antelope Valley, which has been outscored, 170-63, this season, has not scored in 14 of the past 16 quarters and has been shut out in two of its past three games.

Including Friday’s shutout, Camarillo has been blanked by Thousand Oaks three times in the past five years, scoring only nine points in five games.

Scoring: Monroe kicker Rachel Gagliano, who became the first girl to score a point in a City Section varsity football game when she made a conversion kick last week, can become the state record-holder among girls if she scores 11 more points. Mia Labowitz of San Diego High kicked eight PATs and a 32-yard field goal in 1987.

VALLEY FOOTBALL TOP 10 Selected by sportswriters of The Times

Last Rk Wk Team League Record 1 1 Granada Hills N. Valley 5-0 2 2 Thousand Oaks Marmonte 5-0-1 3 3 Crespi Del Rey 4-2 4 4 Hart Foothill 5-1 5 5 Canyon Golden 2-3-1 6 6 Montclair Prep Alpha 6-0 7 7 Notre Dame SF Valley 5-1 8 8 Channel Islands Marmonte 4-2 9 9 Chaminade SF Valley 4-2 10 NR Grant E. Valley 5-0

NR--Not ranked.