The Hart Hawks football team easily handled the hosting West Ranch Wildcats on Friday to remain undefeated in the Foothill League through three games.
Junior Matix Frithsmith reached the end zone four times, while senior Josh Wagner scored twice in his season debut to help the Hawks to a 63-21 victory at Valencia High School.
Hart (5-2, 3-0) head coach Jake Goossen-Brown said he challenged his team to play a complete game on Friday after watching his Hawks nearly blow big halftime leads in the first two weeks of the league campaign.
“We finally were able to play four quarters of football,” Goossen-Brown said. “That’s what we’ve been trying to do for the past two weeks. So, we wanted to leave no doubt tonight that we can play four quarters.”
Frithsmith racked up 227 yards of total offense in his receiver-running back hybrid role. He also returned a kickoff for a touchdown. His four scores on the night brought his season total up to 16, an average of over two per game.
“He’s just a football player, and he’s a football guy,” Goossen-Brown said. “You know, he’s smart. He takes a quarterback test every week because he’s the guy that, maybe we might have to do that if that ever happens, you know. So, I mean, I’m lucky that he was here at Hart and I got to come out and coach him and try to make him, you know, just hopefully get a little better.”
Wagner, a transfer from Canyon High School, ran in a score and caught a pass for a touchdown in the first half. The speedy receiver finished with four catches for 43 yards to go along with 21 yards on two carries.
“It felt great to be out there with my teammates,” Wagner said. “You know, it’s all about them. They do their jobs; that’s why I got in there. I’m just glad to be out there with these guys. I love it. They’re great teammates. I love them.”
Hart senior quarterback Jacob Paisano was efficient all night. He completed 14 of his 19 pass attempts for 210 yards and three touchdowns. He’s up to 1,417 passing yards and 18 touchdowns on the season. He added 66 yards on five scrambles on Friday.
“He’s putting the ball where it needed to go,” Goossen-Brown said. “He made great reads. He makes great calls. He checks, you know, we freeze and check. And he’s a leader out there. He’s another coach out there. And he fixes my mistakes. He’s phenomenal.”
Junior Josh Rogozik and senior Gavin Sandoval each added a rushing touchdown for Hart. Sophomore Silas Tucker reeled in a touchdown catch.
West Ranch (1-5, 0-2) was down big early as the Hawks ran out to a 21-0 lead after the first quarter. Part of the problem were the three turnovers that Hart picked up in the first half, one on an interception by senior Cesar Trujillo, and another on a fumble recovery by senior Caden Craft. The Hawks added a fourth takeaway on junior Michael Toner’s third interception of the season.
Junior quarterback Blake Johnson showed flashes of his potential, throwing for 130 yards, including 65 yards on one pass to junior Charlie Samuelson, who took it all the way for a touchdown. Johnson added 40 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Junior Mesziah Ramos had 33 yards on eight carries, and scored once.
Hart scored on every possession in the game except for one. That lone possession ended when the halftime whistle blew. The Hawks picked up 20 first downs on the night and converted on six of eight third-down attempts. They also converted both of their fourth-down attempts.
West Ranch’s best drive of the night came in the third quarter when the Wildcats marched down the field and used 15 plays and over five minutes to take the ball 90 yards for a score.
The Wildcats are slated to face Saugus on the road next week.
Hart has a matchup with Castaic at home next week before traveling to Canyon the week after. The Hawks have their bye week after that before ending the regular season in what should be a league-deciding matchup against Valencia.
Wagner believes that, as good as Valencia has looked, outscoring league opponents 103-14 through two games, the Hawks can stand up to the two-time reigning league champions.
“I hope this shows that nobody should count us out,” Wagner said. “You know, we’re gonna bring it every game. We hope everybody’s ready for us, because we’re gonna bring it every game. We’re not gonna let up at all.”
