Hart, Saugus QBs highlight list of SCV football players in LA Rams all-star senior bowl
In the Santa Clarita Valley, Hart and Saugus High School are long-time football rivals. It’s an intense rivalry that has lasted for decades.
For both teams’ quarterbacks, Jake Nuttall of Saugus and Jacob Paisano of Hart, the rivalry served as a reminder of where their playing careers began.
Prior to playing in high school, Nuttall and Paisano were teammates in youth football for the Saugus Spartans in middle school.
Both players got to learn the game together and then began a relationship that spanned across years on and off the field, even though they represented each other’s rival schools.
Both went on to have their own successful high school careers, but that didn’t stop them from giving each other praise when they reunited as teammates in the Los Angeles Rams All-Star Senior Bowl, held Dec. 20 at Simi Valley High School.
In an interview with The Signal, both players reflected on their journey and how much it meant to share the field one last time as teammates.
“Jacob is a heck of a player. We have great respect for each other, and each respect each other’s games.” Nuttall said. “Obviously, Saugus and Hart are big rivals on the field but off the field we have a good bond, so it was pretty fun to suit up alongside him again as we did in middle school.”
“We definitely have a strong relationship on and off the field,” said Paisano. “Both of us are huge competitors and push each other to be better than one another every time we share the field together. Being able to suit up again and practice as teammates, not opponents, was definitely a cool feeling, bringing back the good ol’ days on the Spartans.”
They were joined by Saugus running back Ty Hall, and Golden Valley’s Evan Nye and Damian Ozuna as representatives of the Foothill League in the all-star game.
As for Nuttall and Paisano, both earned the right to play in the all-star game after etching their names in their respective high schools’ history after remarkable 2025 campaigns.
Nuttall started for the Centurions on varsity for three seasons beginning in 2023 and broke multiple Saugus High School career records, finishing the 2025 season as the Foothill League’s offensive player of the year.
Nuttall ended his playing time with the Centurions by taking the team to its first CIF semifinals appearance since 2017.
“Anytime you get selected to represent your school and city for anything, it’s a great honor,” Nuttall said. “To be able to have the opportunity to be selected into the all-star game was very exciting.”
As for Paisano, he brought the formerly Herrington-brothers-run Hart football program its first playoff win since 2019 along with back-to-back playoff appearances in 2024 and 2025 with head coach Jake Goossen-Brown.
Paisano ends his time with the Hawks with first team all-Foothill League honors.
“It was definitely a cool experience and an honor being able to represent Hart and SCV in the all-star game,” Paisano said.
On the football field, whenever the Hart and Saugus football teams matched up, the game proved to be a spectacle. In 2024, the teams combined for over 90 points in a shootout, and in 2025, the Hawks spoiled the Centurions’ perfect start to the season with a 46-35 win.
Nuttall also got to share the field with his longtime teammate in Ty Hall, who has been starting alongside him in the backfield since the team’s winless season in 2023.
“We’ve been through the worst together from 0-10 to each having phenomenal careers alongside each other,” he said. “It was extremely great to share the field together and line up aside from each other one final time, and to have a big completion to him in the game just made everything that much better.”
Nuttall and Paisano added that the all-star football game was an experience they’ll never forget, and getting to have the opportunity to represent their schools one last time was an honor.
“It was great to be able to put the Saugus helmet on again,” Nuttall said. “I’ll forever be grateful to the Saugus community for the continuous support throughout the years, my amazing coaching staff, and my teammates who are now lifelong brothers. I’m proud to have been a Centurion.”
“It was definitely an honor being able to suit up and represent my team one last time after all the good memories Hart football has brought me,” Paisano said.
