Hart Still Bullying Palmdale

Hart High’s dominance over Palmdale and Kyle Boller’s legend both continued to grow Friday night in a nonleague football game at College of the Canyons.

Boller completed 22 of 36 for 352 yards and a school-record-tying six touchdowns during the Indians’ 44-7 rout of the Falcons.

It was Palmdale’s ninth consecutive loss to Hart.

Boller, who hit Jerry Owens for a 45-yard touchdown pass on Hart’s first offensive play, has passed for 19 touchdowns and 1,444 yards.

Hart’s first three scoring drives lasted 15, 10 and five seconds, and each ended in familiar fashion--with a Boller touchdown pass.

Boller completed 12 of 22 first-half attempts for 195 yards. The Indians had zero rushing yards in that span.

“I just go out and play and don’t think about stats,” said Boller, who is on a 14-game pace to throw for 5,054 yards.

That’s assuming the top-ranked Indians, ranked seventh in the state, advance to the Southern Section Division III final.

Ryan Connors’ school record of 4,144 is well within reach.

“He could be right up there, but we’re going to have some games where we’ll have to be more balanced,” said Coach Mike Herrington, whose team faces Division I power Loyola next week.

Hart (3-1) attempted passes on 36 of its first 41 plays before running out the clock.

Boller connected with Owens four times for 155 yards and two touchdowns. Owens also intercepted a pass from Jonathan Thompson.

Jared Bazar caught six passes from Boller for 90 yards, including touchdowns of 12 and 21 yards.

Pat Norton and Shawn Epstein also caught scoring passes from Boller.

Boller is not racking up his stats against patsies.

Last week, it was a 49-26 rout of City Section favorite Sylmar, and Palmdale (2-2) has won consecutive Golden League titles.

Marquis Murray rushed for 106 yards in 14 carries and scored Palmdale’s only touchdown on a nifty 54-yard run in the second quarter. The touchdown cut the margin to 21-7.

But, while it was no secret how Hart would respond, Palmdale appeared at times helpless to stop the Indians.

“They didn’t do anything that surprised us,” Falcon Coach Jeff Williams said. “We just left too many guys wide open. We have to play smarter.”