Simply The Bests

* ARM: Kyle Boller, Hart. Even the best players--perhaps especially the best players--rarely live up to their hype. Boller has. He is on pace to break the state single-season record of 4,360 passing yards. His touchdown-to-interception ratio is 21-1. He has thrown 150 consecutive passes without an interception. He has one six-touchdown game and two five-touchdown games.

* LEG: John Wall, Birmingham. In the last two weeks, Wall has four field goals from distances of 53, 50, 48 and 27 yards. He tried another from 52 yards, but it hit the crossbar.

* HANDS: Eric Ceja, Reseda. He has caught 14 passes--eight from his quarterback, six from the opposing quarterback, which makes him the interception leader among City Section players from the region. Ceja’s eight receptions have averaged 30.8 yards.

* TEAM: We rank Westlake No. 1, even though most Times sportswriters believe Hart has the best team. Confused? Well, Westlake is undefeated and Hart has two losses--even though one was by forfeit.

Westlake also stands a good chance of staying undefeated, perhaps even through the playoffs against a relatively weak Division IV field. Hart dropped a 23-22 decision against undefeated Division I power Loyola last week, which might end up being the Indians’ final loss.

If Westlake stays undefeated, we’ll wait until Hart wins a Division III championship. Then we’ll rank the Indians No. 1.

* LEAGUE: Mission. Crespi, Alemany, St. Francis and St. Paul are a combined 17-3. Enough said.

* GAME: Loyola 23, Hart 22. There were five lead changes in the second half. Loyola struck methodically, with a ground attack. Hart answered quickly through the air, scoring twice within 39 seconds.

A final, desperation drive by Hart featured two fourth-and-long pass completions by Boller.

The thrills did not end until a high snap caused a 20-yard field goal attempt by Hart to go awry with 15 seconds to play. Too bad there won’t be a rematch.

* PLAY: Exhibiting the agility of a major league second baseman turning a double play, Westlake receiver Travis Campbell took a short pass from Zac Wasserman and in a single motion flipped it behind his back to streaking teammate Chris Catalano, who caught it in stride and dashed to an 80-yard touchdown in the third quarter of the Warriors’ opener against Buena.

The play ignited Westlake, which turned a tenuous 7-6 lead into a 37-12 victory.