North Hollywood Stays on Ground, Reaches Top Level

An impressive halftime fireworks display highlighted homecoming ceremonies at Poly High on Friday night.

It was the only time the crowd needed to look into the air.

North Hollywood trampled Poly, 22-6, to clinch a share of the Sunset Six League championship by running on 49 of 50 plays.

Matthew Hicks, lining up as a wingback in the double-wing formation and tailback in the I, did the most damage, chewing up 198 yards in 30 carries and scoring touchdowns on runs of eight, 28 and 27 yards.

North Hollywood’s only pass was a long incompletion on the final play of the first half. It was noteworthy because it provided the only indication that quarterback Billydee Payne is left-handed.

“It got to the point where our best defense was our offense,” Coach Jason Garrison said. “We broke them down slowly by pounding for small chunks of yardage.”

A 10-minute, 16-play drive that covered 97 yards and ate up the last 6:49 of the third quarter and the first 3:11 of the fourth was the crowning blow. Hicks capped it with a 28-yard scoring burst and Brandon Tyler ran for a two-point conversion and a 22-6 lead.

The march followed a spirited goal-line stand by North Hollywood (5-4, 4-0 in league play). With tailback David Valencia sidelined with a shoulder injury, Poly (5-4, 3-1) turned to runs by fullback Alex Vallejo and quarterback Zachary Jones-Sims and drove to the Husky two-yard line.

However, Vallejo was stopped on second down, a sneak by Jones-Sims went nowhere on third and Vallejo was again stuffed on fourth down.

“Our defense was a huge key,” Garrison said. “Any time you hold an opponent to less than 200 yards, you are playing good defense.”

Poly rushed for 112 yards and Jones-Sims completed three of six passes for 42 yards. Valencia rushed for 69 yards and the Parrots’ touchdown on an eight-yard run before getting injured on a solid tackle by cornerback Chris Berroud.

Moments earlier, Daniel Fuselier, the Huskies’ defensive back coach, took Berroud aside, telling him, “You’ve got to come up and fill on the run. This team is not throwing the ball.”

Without Valencia, who entered the game with 1,091 yards in 225 carries, Poly could not counter the battering runs of Hicks. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound senior now has 1,802 yards rushing and has scored 23 touchdowns.

“We played this like a championship game,” Hicks said.

North Hollywood must defeat Canoga Park (5-4, 3-1) next week to win the title outright.

The league champion earns an automatic berth in the City Championship playoffs, a prospect Garrison finds appealing.

“Our No. 1 goal is to win the league title,” he said. “Then we want to go into the top level of playoffs and win there too.”