Cathedral hits Hart with both barrels
One gifted quarterback is a handful for any defense.
Two make an offense even more difficult to stop.
No team this season has been able to withstand Los Angeles Cathedral’s one-two punch of Andrew Tovar and Bryce Young, and Newhall Hart was no exception Friday night, falling to the Phantoms, 34-17, in the first round of the Southern Section Division 3 playoffs.
The two 1,000-yard passers alternated quarters, as they have all season, and it was the senior Tovar who had the hot hand early, ending Cathedral’s first drive with a seven-yard touchdown run and throwing touchdown passes of 65 yards to Izaiah Adams and 28 yards to Jamire Calvin to give the Phantoms a 21-3 first-quarter lead.
Hart closed to within 21-10 on Nick Moore’s one-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, but it took only 11 seconds for Angelus League champion Cathedral to answer that with Arex Flemings’ 86-yard kickoff return.
Moore completed 21 of 38 passes for 242 yards, including a 30-yard touchdown to AJ Stanley in the fourth quarter, and ran for 72 yards in 17 carries for the Indians (8-3), who finished second in the Foothill League.
Young, a freshman, came on in the second quarter and shook off an interception to throw for 75 yards by halftime.
For the night, Tovar completed 12 of 18 passes for 178 yards and three touchdowns, and Young was four for seven for 80 yards.
Calvin had seven receptions for 109 yards, Adams had two catches for 49 yards and Flemings had five catches for 69 yards, including a four-yard touchdown to put the game out of reach with 5:05 left.
Stanley had six catches for 78 yards for Hart, and Grant Thuente had five receptions for 46 yards. Justin Octave rushed eight times for 45 yards.
Third-seeded Cathedral (11-0), ranked No. 20 in the Southland by The Times, is having its best season since 2000, when it finished 12-1 behind quarterback and linebacker Ralph Pineda, who went on to play at San Jose State and now plays in NFL Europe. That team lost to St. Bonaventure in the semifinals of the Division X playoffs.
The Phantoms will host a quarterfinal game next Friday.
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