Going into Friday night, many of Hart’s offensive players led most of the Foothill League’s statistics, such as Hawks quarterback Jacob Paisano leading the Foothill League in passing yards.
And in the win over Canyon, the Hawks proved why they’re among the best in the league, defeating the Cowboys, 42-6.
“I have a great players around me that make it easy. We have good kids who have a high football IQ that work hard and they’re bought in,” Hart head coach Jake Goossen-Brown said. “We have a good offensive line. We have a great quarterback. We have good athletes … we got a lot of weapons. So, I feel privileged to be able to coach a group of guys like this, and it makes my job easy, and it makes me look good.”
As for the Hart quarterback, Paisano carried out what he has done all season and that is score for his team through the ground and air.
The senior quarterback tallied five total touchdowns, including three on the ground.
“Obviously, putting up a good amount of points feels great. As an offense we don’t like punting and we think about it as a failure,” Paisano said. “But it feels good putting up points and not every drive is pretty, we had some dirty drives but we’re going to try to fix that up this week in practice.”
On the first drive of the game, Paisano connected with former Canyon receiver Joshua Wagner.
Wagner, who transferred to Hart (7-2, 5-0) this past year, was eligible to play in week six, and described how it feels to be back at Canyon High School.
“It was just exciting to be out there on my team, to just score and go against it, get some revenge on them,” he said. “It’s great to be playing against them, it’s all love with them. I’ve grown up with more than half those guys, so it’s great to see them in the game and be on the field with them.”
With two minutes left to go in the opening quarter, the Hawks extended their lead over Canyon (1-8, 1-4) with another Paisano touchdown, but this time to Kaden Saalih.
With Hart’s offense executing, the Cowboys responded with a score of their own in the second quarter.
Following a methodical drive down the field, Cowboys quarterback Carson Soria connected with Jonathan Chavez in the end zone on fourth down.
With a 14-6 lead, the Hawks’ offense ran the score back up, quite literally.
On the following two drives for Hart, Paisano utilized his legs for two separate 30-plus-yard runs for touchdowns.
“Coach told me before the game that my legs are going to make an impact,” Paisano said. “So, I kept that in the back of my mind and was ready for it when the opportunity was there for me.”
With the two scoring drives, the Hawks carried a 28-6 lead going into halftime and only built upon their score in the second half.
With less than five minutes remaining in the third quarter, running back Matix Frithsmith pushed the lead to 35-6.
And with less than ten seconds left to go in the third, Paisano ran for his third touchdown of the night, bringing his total to five.
In the end, the Hawks ran down the clock with runs and closed the game out with a win.
As for Canyon, the loss sets the team back to 1-4 in league play, with their lone win of the season coming against Castaic.
The team will look to win on Halloween night against West Ranch in the final game of the season.
With the win, Hart remains undefeated in league play with one game remaining, and one win away from the league crown.
The one team the Hawks have left to defeat: Valencia, a team that has had their number for years, especially last season.
But this season, all that Goossen-Brown cares about is his team going 1-0 every week, as that mentality is what they’ve been preaching all year long.
“We’re trying to be 1-0. It’s just a football game,” he said. “They’re a well-coached team. They have good players, but I think we’re well-coached and we have good players. So, we’re just trying to go out there and like I said, we’re going to try to get 16% better every day and work on finding a way to win.”
The Hawks hit the road to play the Vikings next week at Valencia High School.
