Hart Hawks football began its Monday thinking it’d be heading to its preseason finale game with the Eisenhower Eagles in less than four days.
Two days of scrambling later, the Hawks are now set to host a new opponent in the Birmingham Patriots in Hart’s first true home game on the school’s campus since 1973.
Fires in the Riverside area relocated Friday night’s football game between Hart and Eisenhower to Hart High. Originally, both sides were willing to swap locations but concerns remained on whether the Eagles could practice. Hart started putting together the pieces to host the game on Tuesday, needing a lot more bleachers for its potential 2,000-person turnout.
Hart coach Jake Goossen-Brown got the call on Wednesday that Eisenhower opted out of the game, leaving Hart without an opponent. Luckily for him, he was only without an opponent for an hour.
Just 20 miles down the 405 freeway, Birmingham also started looking for a Friday opponent around the same time. The Patriots were nearly set to play Oak Hills but neither team was willing to host and the potential game was called off.
Within a matter of minutes, Hart and Birmingham had agreed on a Friday night game, keeping the Hart administration’s work to host a home game alive and on track.
Hart is now set to host its first true on-campus home game in 51 years. The game will also be the first-ever varsity football game on the now Larry Fiscus Field.
The first-year coach joked about hosting a game on Hart’s campus early on in his tenure, not knowing he’d get his wish in just three games.
“I went into the first booster talking about having a home game,” Goossen-Brown said in a phone interview. “I said, ‘We’re gonna have a home game eventually.’ I didn’t know when, but didn’t think it would happen this fast.”
Goossen-Brown was excited for the opportunity to host on his own campus, knowing not all of the Hart student body can make it over to College of the Canyons every Friday.
“We’re going to play our first home game at Hart since 1973,” Goossen-Brown said. “We told the players and they are super pumped. It’ll be great to have all the local students because a lot of our kids walk to school every day. They live out here and may not have the ability to get to COC. So we’re thinking it’s gonna be great for the community and all the kids to be here. We’re really excited, really pumped up to be able to play in front of a home crowd.”
Goossen-Brown could have potentially moved the game to Thursday or Saturday and booked another local field but his one non-negotiable was that Hart host the game on its own campus.
“We were thinking potentially Saturday, but it was still going to be here,” Goossen-Brown said. “Come on, it’s Friday night lights, the kids live for it. There’s nothing like it. I have kids that go to college and they still always tell me, there’s nothing like playing Friday Night Lights. Our kids have never experienced a Friday night lights true home game, so I really wanted to make that happen.”
Hart’s current bleachers accommodate seating for around 200 people. The school’s administration has added a pair of 10-row bleachers behind the north end zone. There will be plenty of standing room around the field for spectators but only at that level as the administration likely won’t allow fans up on the practice field.
Both Birmingham and Hart boast rich football traditions, with the Patriots being the winner of four straight CIF L.A. City Section Open Division titles.
Hart’s junior varsity will get the first taste of the historic day at 4 p.m. before Hawks varsity takes on Birmingham at 7 p.m. at Larry Fiscus Field.
“It’s two great programs going at it,” Goossen-Brown said. “This is what we play football for, to play good teams. They’re a well-coached team, they have great tradition, great history and very good players. It’s gonna be a great test for us.”
