Hart’s Line of Success Came to Pass

Football fans, bring your cameras and break out your autograph books to capture a historic moment in Southland high school sports.

On the same field tonight at College of the Canyons in Valencia will be David Neill, Kyle Boller, Kyle Matter and Matt Moore, four NCAA Division I-A quarterbacks from Newhall Hart.

Neill of Nevada, Boller of California and Matter of Stanford will be in street clothes watching the UCLA-bound Moore try to lead Hart (12-0) to a victory over Valencia (11-2) and its fourth consecutive Southern Section Division III championship.

They’ll probably argue on the sideline who was the best quarterback in Hart history, but they’ll have plenty of company, because the Indians have produced 16 consecutive seasons of All-Southern Section quarterbacks.

“They’ll have to look all the way back to ’85 to find out the best,” said Jim Bonds, who started the streak his junior year. “I get arguments in my own family who’s the best. Someone from ’83 tells me he was the best.”

That’s because Bonds’ brother, Tom, was an All-Southern Section quarterback in 1983 for the Indians.

“It’s a fraternity of quarterbacks that’s been created,” Jim Bonds said. “You don’t want to be the guy who breaks that streak.”

There’s no truth to the rumor that Hart is being renamed Quarterback High, but it has become a magnet school for training quarterbacks.

During the streak, the quarterbacks have been tall and short, fast and slow, had strong arms and not so strong. There has been only one transfer student among the 11 All-Southern Section quarterbacks. Seven were good enough to receive college scholarships.

“I just think we have a system kids like to play in,” said former offensive coordinator Dean Herrington, who coached from 1989 through last season before moving to Occidental College and is the architect of Hart’s spread offense. “It’s easy to motivate the Hart quarterbacks because they don’t want to be the one who doesn’t live up to expectations.”

Just ask Matter about expectations. He had to take over as the starting quarterback the season after Boller passed for a school-record 4,841 yards and 59 touchdowns.

“It was a tough time,” he said. “Everyone was putting me on a pedestal. I had doubts. It was only my third year ever playing football. We didn’t win any passing tournaments. I knew I could play, but I didn’t know if I could play at the level everyone thought. I didn’t want to let anyone down.”

Matter rose to the challenge, like many of his predecessors, and completed a school-record 67% of his passes during a 14-0 season in 1999.

His two-year record of accuracy and success surpassed Boller’s and put the pressure on his successor, Moore, a 6-foot-4 senior who was an All-Southern Section free safety last year.

In his season debut, Moore passed for only 97 yards in a 34-0 victory over Wilmington Banning. But the toughness he displayed during that game--he was battered four times on late hits--convinced UCLA Coach Bob Toledo to offer him a scholarship despite no proven record of accomplishment.

Perhaps Toledo had learned his lesson for not believing Hart coaches three years earlier when they spoke about Boller’s skills.

Toughness is the most important quality for a Hart quarterback. With five receivers to locate, the quarterback has no time to worry about charging rushers.

“It’s the willingness to hold onto the ball a split second longer even though you know you’re going to get hit, not once a game but many times a game,” Herrington said.

Another critical part of playing quarterback for Hart is summer passing tournaments. It’s six weeks of nonstop instruction while playing in close to 50 games.

“The only thing I did during the summer was watch film and learn how to pick apart defenses,” Moore said.

Moore possesses Boller’s toughness, Neill’s athleticism and Matter’s coolness.

“He just has the persona to him that he has no fear,” said Hart Coach Mike Herrington, Dean’s older brother.

Bonds, who has become a successful high school coach, first at Mission Hills Alemany, where he tutored Tennessee quarterback Casey Clausen, and now at La Canada St. Francis, said dealing with Dean Herrington’s demands prepared Hart quarterbacks for anything.

“You have to toe the line with him,” he said. “He makes you tough during the process, so when it’s third and nine in a crucial situation, it won’t be anything harder than what he’s put you through in practice.”

Davis Delmatoff, another former Hart quarterback, took over this season as offensive coordinator when Dean left for Occidental. Not much has changed, which isn’t a surprise since Delmatoff trained under Herrington.

With 3,058 yards passing and 29 touchdowns, Moore is likely to make it 17 consecutive years of All-Southern Section quarterbacks.

The question to be asked after tonight’s game will be whether the streak can continue.

Sean Norton, a 5-11 sophomore, is the likely choice to succeed Moore. He passed for 1,768 yards and 28 touchdowns for the 8-1 sophomore team. And down the road, there’s always James Bonds Jr., who turns 9 in February.

“That makes me feel old right there, that my son is a lot closer to being a Hart quarterback than I am,” the elder Bonds said.

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

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Quarterback High

Hart’s 17 consecutive years of quarterback success:

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YEAR PLAYER PA PC INT YDS TDs 1985 Jim Bonds 345 182 9 2,439 14 1986 Jim Bonds 322 201 10 3,153 39 1987 Darren Renfro 343 219 6 2,808 26 1988 Rob Westervelt 294 176 11 2,163 21 1989 Rob Westervelt 243 139 11 2,131 24 1990 Ryan Connors 345 187 11 2,825 24 1991 Ryan Connors 471 290 16 4,144 39 1992 Davis Delmatoff 327 192 11 3,196 36 1993 Mike Kocicka 277 165 10 2,966 32 1994 Steve McKeon 259 160 11 2,925 30 1995 Steve McKeon 291 167 11 3,331 33 1996 Travis Carroll 294 196 9 2,780 27 1997 David Neill 339 188 17 3,053 26 1998 Kyle Boller 450 291 3 4,841 59 1999 Kyle Matter 355 238 7 3,774 48 2000 Kyle Matter 439 287 9 3,754 33 2001 Matt Moore 335 220 8 3,058 29

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