Hart Mobilizing for Attack as Crescenta Valley Digs In : Defense: Lopez, LaCom & Co. aim to throw Indians’ powerful run-and-shoot off target in its stiffest test.

This week has been one of tightening the gaps and filling the holes at Crescenta Valley High.

Indians are on the horizon.

Crescenta Valley’s defense has been among the area’s best all season, but the Falcons have seen nothing like the challenge that awaits them in No. 1-ranked Hart (11-0), which will send its high-octane, run-and-shoot offense against Crescenta Valley (10-1) in a Southern Section Division II quarterfinal tonight at Glendale High.

“It’s one of the best offenses I’ve seen this year,” Crescenta Valley linebacker Paul Lopez said after his first look at the Indians on film. “Passing-wise, they execute everything well. They have great receivers and a great quarterback.”

The Falcons have the following to consider:

-- Hart’s Davis Delmatoff leads state quarterbacks with 36 touchdown passes. He has completed 181 of 303 attempts and is second in the area with 2,987 yards.

-- Receivers Jared Halverson (40 catches), Jason Medearis (24), Cameron Perry (23) and Kai Chauncey (21) are among area leaders in receptions.

-- Running back Deriek Charles, who carries the ball mostly on draws out of a one-back, four-receiver set, has gained 1,053 yards in 92 carries, an 11.4 average. He also has a team-leading 41 receptions for 742 yards.

-- The Indians have outscored opponents, 425-72.

This game might be considered just another romp for Hart, but Crescenta Valley carries impressive numbers too. The Falcons boast the top defense among area Southern Section teams, giving up only 173.5 yards and 9.5 points a game. Crescenta Valley is giving up 61.8 yards passing a game and has 15 interceptions.

The Falcons have shut out four opponents, including Pacific League rival Hoover, which runs a far less effective version of Hart’s run-and-shoot.

“It’s going to be like facing Hoover with some bigger linemen, probably,” Falcon linebacker Erik LaCom said. “We were able to apply some (pass) pressure to Hoover, so they weren’t that effective. We need to do the same thing against Hart. They run a very similar offense.

“But, I’m pretty sure Hart does it better than Hoover.”

Hoover’s run-and-shoot differed from Hart’s in at least two significant ways. First, the Tornadoes did not have a running back the quality of Charles as a threat on the draw and on swing passes out of the backfield. Second, Hoover’s offensive line was not nearly as dominating as Hart’s.

So the Crescenta Valley defense has prepared for something almost entirely new. “(We’ve done) the most learning we’ve done in one week of practice,” LaCom said.

The Falcons also face the prospect of adjusting to this new opponent without breaks between plays because Hart rarely huddles. That is not easy for a scout team to simulate in practice.

“We will give (the scout team) a couple of plays all at once and they will be run in succession so our defense can try to adjust as fast they can,” defensive coordinator Bill Irace said.

LaCom said in watching the films he noticed that Hart’s success seemed to come as much from the confusion of the defenses as from Hart’s execution.

“We have to rely on communication,” he said. “Other teams just didn’t look prepared for it.”

There is also the matter of fatigue. Several of Crescenta Valley’s key defensive players, including Lopez and LaCom, play on offense. The Falcons, who substitute at only three positions on defense, will spend the game chasing Hart’s receivers and backs with almost no breaks between plays.

Only Muir has beaten Crescenta Valley. The Mustangs scored 27 points and gained 318 yards, both season highs against Crescenta Valley. Muir, however, did not attempt a pass, beating Crescenta Valley almost exclusively with speed, scoring on four plays of 50 yards or longer.

Hart is fast but not as fast as Muir, LaCom said, so getting burned on long runs is not a primary concern of the Falcons.

Of course, the best way to stop a good offense is to keep it off the field. The Falcons are predominantly a running team, successful in eating up yardage and time.

And there is another approach Crescenta Valley hopes to use: Pop them until they see stars.

“We’re just going to keep putting helmets on somebody until something happens,” LaCom said. “The more times you hit them, the better chance that they’ll do something wrong.”