VALENCIA — “We like it. We embrace the underdog and we come out and we show up.”
Hart head coach Jake Goossen-Brown made a point of mentioning his team’s underdog status heading into their opening round CIF-SS Division 7 playoff game against Mayfair, and the Hawks came out on top with a resounding 52-24 victory on Friday night.
The win was Hart’s first playoff victory since 2019, and they did it over a resurgent Mayfair team that had won four straight games to clinch a postseason berth after losing their first six contests of the season.
Cesar Trujillo forced an early interception and defensive lineman Owen Pontius burst through the line to stop Mayfair on a fourth-and-1. Hart led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter and the margin wouldn’t get closer.
Senior quarterback Jacob Paisano and junior running back/receiver Matix Frithsmith found the end zone with a first-quarter rushing touchdown each. Paisano had three rushing touchdowns on the night and over 160 yards on the ground. He had 10 during the regular season.
“I trust all my linemen, you know,” Paisano said postgame. “We have a great relationship with each one of them… No matter who’s running the ball, we trust in each other to make the plays.”
Hart added on throughout the game, both through Paisano’s athleticism, arm, and Frithsmith’s exploits, and the duo combined for a highlight play when Paisano layered a perfect pass to Frithsmith past two defenders down the right sideline, allowing the junior playmaker to run right under it for a 36-yard touchdown.
The score extended Hart’s lead to 28-10 going into halftime, and Mayfair couldn’t mount a sustained response.
Hart forced a three-and-out on Mayfair’s opening drive of the third quarter, again continuing a solid defensive effort for a unit that showed up big in the highest stakes game of their season.
“It’s huge. I talked before the game and said ‘you know, if we win the turnover battle, you have a 90 percent chance of winning the game.’ And the defense took it to heart and came out here and made some big plays,” Goossen-Brown said.
“The defense played lights out tonight. They did a great job and it’s the best our defense has looked all year,” he added.
Backup running back Josh Rogozik joined the party on the offensive side with a 1-yard touchdown as a Wildcat quarterback to increase Hart’s lead to 35-10 with 8:33 remaining in the third quarter, and that essentially put the game out of reach.
Hart put the finishing touches on a momentous win when Paisano scored his third rushing touchdown of the night from four yards out to put his team up 52-17 with 9:30 remaining in the game, and now they’ll have their sights set on continuing their postseason run next Friday.
Hart will travel roughly 140 miles to face Palm Springs next weekend, a road trip that the team is looking forward to taking after keeping their season alive.
“It’ll be definitely different, you know,” Paisano said. “Longer road trip than usual, longest away game that I’ve played in high school, so it’s gonna be fun to go out there and do something different.”