Hart Makes Tracks in the Desert, 42-7

The Hart offense rolled through the desert Saturday night, but it was the Indian defense that most impressed the coaching staff in a 42-7 nonleague rout of Palm Springs.

Hart (7-0), top-ranked in The Times’ Valley poll, gave up only 54 yards in the first half and scored three touchdowns in the final four minutes of the second quarter to build a 35-7 halftime lead.

Palm Springs (3-4) scored on a 96-yard kickoff return by Bishop Miller, cutting Hart’s lead to 21-7. It was the only time Palm Springs was able to use its speed effectively against a bigger, more physical Hart team.

“We were concerned about their speed, because last week against Canyon we were horrible on defense,” Hart Coach Mike Herrington said. “We were inept on defense, so we worked harder this week.”

While the defense held Palm Springs to 180 yards, Hart rolled up 447 yards behind the passing of Steve McKeon and the running of Ted Iacenda. Iacenda rushed for 172 yards in 16 carries and scored three times in the first half on runs of one yard, 62 yards and one yard.

McKeon completed 10 of 18 passes for 188 yards. His first completion of the night was a 33-yard scoring play to Domenic Dillillo, giving Hart a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.