Valencia Has Been Unable to Deliver the Hart-Breaker

Ask Coach Dennis Ford about Hart High’s unbeaten streak in Foothill League play and he’ll tell you he and his players don’t dwell on it.

But don’t think the Indians’ coach doesn’t take great pride in the fact Hart has a 214-0-1 record in league play since Ford took over in 1990.

“We don’t talk about it at all,” Ford said. “But I do have it on my screen saver at school.”

Hart won its 10th consecutive Foothill title last year, but Valencia Coach Rusty Swisher figured the Vikings were ready to snap the streak this year after four consecutive runner-up finishes.

It hasn’t happened.

Hart (27-6-1) won the first three league matches this season and will be favored when the fourth is held at Vista Valencia Golf Course on Tuesday.

“It has certainly been frustrating,” Swisher said. “Some of my players came to me the other day and said, ‘We’re playing really well right now.’ But [Hart] has been a handful at times and three handfuls at others.

“The thing I think they have behind them is that winning tradition armor. I mean, they haven’t been beat in a Foothill League match in so long that they think they’re supposed to win every match.”

Getting his players not to believe the same thing is something Swisher is working on.

“It’s not the mystique of Hart that they’re playing against,” Swisher said. “It’s just a matter of them conquering the course. If they all conquer the course as individuals and do it on the same day, that might be enough to beat Hart.”

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Hart struggled--by its standards--at the start of the season, but the Indians have played their best golf of the season recently.

Hart had a 384-stroke total to defeat Thousand Oaks (406) and Agoura (414) in a nonleague match at Camarillo Springs Golf Club on Wednesday, then tied highly regarded Calabasas, 392-392, at Calabasas Golf and Country Club on Thursday.

The tie with Calabasas (10-1-1) was doubly impressive because the Indians played without seniors Josh Edwards and Chris Stimson, who took part in the DeBell tournament that day.

Edwards and Stimson are Hart’s No. 4 and 5 players, but Ford figured they would benefit from playing in the DeBell tournament.

Sophomore Brian Edick and juniors Andy Smith and Josh Vanek, Hart’s top three players, couldn’t play in the DeBell tournament because they were taking state-mandated tests.

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Coach Bill Bellatty of Calabasas knew he had one of the top returning players in the region, Justin Ohye, but he has been pleasantly surprised by the Coyotes’ success as a team.

“I’ve got two freshmen who have been big surprises,” Bellatty said. “They’re both averaging under 80 and they’ve both been very consistent.”

Ohye and Peter Heilbron, both seniors, are Calabasas’ top two players. Freshman Jared Tarlow is the Coyotes’ No. 3 player and freshman Adam Albrecht is their No. 6.

“They’ve given us a lot of depth,” Bellatty said. “And when your No. 4, 5 and 6 players are capable of shooting in the high 70s every time they step on the course, you’re in pretty good shape.”

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Nordhoff is 16-15 heading into the Atascadero tournament Tuesday, but the Rangers’ record is a bit deceiving because they’ve played a difficult schedule.

Nordhoff is 1-3 against Oak Park, the top-ranked team in the region by The Times, and the Rangers are 0-2 against No. 2 Calabasas, 0-1 against No. 3 Camarillo, 1-1 against No. 4 Hart and 0-2 against No. 5 Westlake.

“It’s the hardest schedule we’ve ever had,” Coach Dick Sebek said. “But I feel like it’s helped the players as individuals raise their game to a higher level.”

Nordhoff’s top performance came in the third Tri-Valley League match when the Rangers shot one-under-par 359 at Soule Golf Course to defeat Oak Park.

Senior Tommy Hajduk and freshman Mike Bensley each shot a three-under-par 69, with junior Eric Bensley--Mike’s brother--at 72, junior Devlin Thomas at 73 and junior Jacob Withrow at 76.