Hart Changes Pace in Beating Westlake With Ground Attack

What happened to Hart High’s football team? The one with the no-huddle, two- minute- scoring- drive offense?

The normally high-scoring Indians (3-0) used a ball-control running game to beat Westlake, 20-7, Friday night at Newbury Park High in a game matching teams expected to contend for Southern Section titles.

“We’ve got a good running back and a great line,” Hart Coach Mike Herrington said. “We wanted to control the ball. We didn’t want to give them the ball because their offense has a lot of weapons.”

Hart’s main weapon was running back Ted Iacenda, who gained 115 yards in 29 carries and scored twice on one- and five-yard runs. Quarterback Steve McKeon ran for 56 yards in 15 carries and scored once. He completed seven of 10 passes for 121 yards.

Westlake (2-1), which averaged 45 points in its first two games, could not move the ball in the second half, when it needed to come back. The Warriors did not score and gained only 90 yards.

Hart put the game away with its first drive of the second half. The Indians drove the ball 63 yards on a 14-play drive that took 7 minutes 49 seconds and ended with a one-yard run by Iacenda.