Hart Relies on Defense to Dispatch Quartz Hill

Hart High’s defense did it again. Ho-hum.

Powered by seven first-half sacks and three interceptions, the Indians defeated Quartz Hill, 28-7, Friday night in a nonleague game at Quartz Hill.

Hart, ranked No. 1 in The Times’ regional poll, won its fifth game without a loss. Quartz Hill dropped to 1-4.

Defensive tackles Bryan Oksas and Ryan Hourigan each had three sacks for Hart, which had shut out its two previous opponents.

Hourigan said to expect similar performances from his team when Foothill League play begins next week.

“I think we’ve been showing people for a while now that the defense is a real strong part of our team,” he said. “The defense might have been a low point on our team last year, but this year it is definitely a high point.

“This was our last game before we open (Foothill League play) with Saugus next week. We wanted to be ready.”

Although the Hart offense did not dominate the way it had in previous games, it did get the job done.

Quarterback Davis Delmatoff threw for 245 yards and two touchdowns to key the attack, including an eight-yard touchdown to Cameron Perry with 6 minutes 54 second left to seal the victory.

Hart led, 14-7, at halftime, but its vaunted offense struggled. Despite being inside the Rebels’ 25-yard line three times, the Indians scored only seven points.

Hart failed twice needing short yardage on fourth down.

Kicker Tim Cronk was sidelined because of strained muscles in his lower back, so the Indians were forced to eschew what would have been field-goal attempts of 37 and 32 yards.

Hart’s offense did manage to drive 77 yards for a touchdown after the opening kickoff.

The last 14 yards came on a draw play to Deriek Charles with 9:50 remaining in the first quarter.

The lead didn’t last long, however. Quartz Hill also scored on its first possession, on a 61-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Brad Norris to wide receiver Punche Tuenge with 7:23 left in the quarter.

Neither team could capitalize again until late in the second quarter, when Delmatoff threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Jason Medearis with three minutes left before halftime.

Norris completed 16 of 27 for 260 yards.