Hart Pulls Away From Canyon for 42-19 Win

CANYON COUNTRY —  A 23-point victory over your archrival?

Not good enough for Hart High, ranked No. 1 in the region by The Times.

After defeating Canyon, 42-19, Friday night at Canyon before a crowd of 3,000, Hart players wore long faces and their coaches harped on their mistakes.

There were two fumbles, penalties, and mental mistakes on defense in the Foothill League opener.

“It was not a good effort by pretty much everybody tonight,” said Hart’s Ted Iacenda, who rushed for 129 yards and three touchdowns but fumbled in the fourth quarter. “I don’t think I played well at all.

“It just goes to show how much we should have won by,” he said. “I’m not saying that Canyon’s not a good team, because they are, but I think we’re that much better than them and we should have come out and dominated them the whole game.”

Hart (6-0, 1-0) dominated in the second half, outscoring Canyon 21-6 to pull away from the Cowboys.

Canyon (1-4-1, 0-1) stayed with the high-powered Indians for two-plus quarters. But after closing to within 28-19 midway through the third quarter on Peter Gregory’s five-yard scoring run, it was all Hart.

“We played hard,” Canyon Coach Larry Mohr said. “That was the best football team we played all year.”

Hart has won seven of the last eight meetings between the schools.

Canyon quarterback Ahjeron Palmer rushed for 134 yards in nine carries in the first half, darting through the Hart defense on plays designed for him. He finished with 160 yards in 16 carries.

Palmer’s 29-yard touchdown jaunt with 3 minutes 5 seconds left in the first half pulled the Cowboys to within 14-13. Rick Engbrecht missed the extra-point attempt.

Hart scored on the subsequent drive on a six-yard run by quarterback Steve McKeon with 35 seconds remaining in the half. McKeon, a junior, completed 16 of 24 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns.

He suffered a headache and dizziness after the game and left in an ambulance to be checked for a concussion.