Prep talk: When Mike Herrington, Jon Mack and Kevin Rooney met on football sideline
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On Friday night at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, there was a gathering of coaching royalty on the Hart sideline. Mike Herrington (Hart), Jon Mack (St. Bonaventure) and Kevin Rooney (Sherman Oaks Notre Dame) were providing support to Hawks coach Jake Goossen.
Combined, the three head coaches have won 20 Southern Section championships, with Herrington at nine, Mack at seven and Rooney at four. Goossen played for Rooney at Notre Dame, became friends with Mack, who helped him at Hueneme, and is grateful for Herrington and his brother, Rick, former Hart head coaches.
“It’s great to have support of three great coaches,” Goossen said. “I don’t think any other coach has that kind of support.”
The senior running back who had to take over at quarterback rushes for 218 yards and four touchdowns, including a clinching 91-yard score to seal the win.
Herrington and Rooney are in the California High School Football Hall of Fame with each winning more than 300 games in their career.
When Goossen went upstairs at halftime to the locker room in a game against Saugus on Friday, Mack was running up the stairs with him telling him to use more power rushing plays.
Hart defeated Saugus 34-17. Asked what would have happened if his team had lost, Goossen joked, “They would have claimed they didn’t know me.”
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
