Westlake’s Powerful Offense Hart-Broken, 20-7

What happened to Hart High’s football team, the one with the no-huddle, two-minute-scoring-drive offense?

The normally high-scoring Indians used a ball-control running game to beat Westlake, 20-7, Friday night at Newbury Park High in a game matching teams expected to contend for Southern Section titles.

“We’ve got a good running back and a great line,” Hart coach Mike Herrington said. “We wanted to control the ball. We didn’t want to give them the ball because their offense has a lot of weapons.”

Hart’s main weapon was running back Ted Iacenda, who gained 115 yards in 29 carries. Quarterback Steve McKeon ran for 56 yards in 15 carries. He completed seven of 10 passes for 121 yards.

The story was Hart’s running game, which was keyed by an offensive line that averaged 40 pounds per man more than the Westlake defensive line.

“I love these guys,” Iacenda said of the Indian front line. “I wouldn’t trade these guys for anybody.”

Westlake used two quarterbacks, as Coach Jim Benkert planned. Brian Shubin played the first half and a few plays in the second. He completed 11 of 23 passes for 134 yards. Scott Spruill played the second half and completed seven of 15 passes for 68 yards.

Billy Miller, Westlake’s preseason All-American receiver, caught nine passes for 93 yards. Mike Liebin caught six for 109 yards and a touchdown.

But Westlake (2-1), which averaged 45 points in its first two games, could not move the ball in the second half, when it needed to come back. The Warriors did not score and gained only 90 yards.

“We’re not invincible,” Benkert said. “We just made too many mistakes against a good football team.”

Hart took total control with its first drive of the second half. The Indians drove 63 yards on a 14-play drive that took 7 minutes 49 seconds and ended with a one-yard run by Iacenda.

The Warriors had a pair of costly mistakes in the first half--a fumble and an interception in the Hart end zone--resulting in a 14-7 lead for the Indians at the break.

Shubin fumbled the snap on the game’s third play from scrimmage, giving Hart possession at the Westlake 35.

Six plays later, McKeon took the ball 20 yards for a touchdown on a bootleg, giving Hart a 7-0 lead.

Westlake came back with a trick play, a 37-yard touchdown pass play from tailback Jason Victor to Liebin, tying the score with 4:50 to go in the first quarter. Victor took a short pass from Shubin, but was able to throw the double pass because he was behind the line of scrimmage.

The Indians then pushed the Warriors around on an impressive ball-control drive. Hart moved the ball 85 yards in 15 plays, 14 of which were runs. The drive, which ate up 6:10, ended with a five-yard scoring run by Iacenda.

Westlake had several chances to tie the score before the half, but the Warriors had a drive ended when Todd Renfro intercepted a pass intended for Miller in the corner of the end zone. The Warriors had moved the ball to the Hart three.

The Warriors later lost the ball on downs at the Hart five and the half ended with Westlake at the Hart eight.

“We got a little flustered offensively when things didn’t go our way,” Benkert said. “We’re used to things going our way.”