In a highly anticipated match-up on Friday night, the Wildcats pulled off a huge comeback against Hart after being down 17-0 at halftime.

West Ranch would end up scoring 42 points in the second half after being shot out in the first two quarters.

Junior running back Luke Deperno led that charge by scoring five touchdowns on the night over Hart’s defense at Valencia High School.

“We were down 17 to nothing, they thought they had us but we came back,” said Deperno. “I was just hyping up our boys, telling them the game is not over, we just need to put up some points and we’re back in it.”

West Ranch did exactly that but before they had the opportunity to come back they had to go through a rough first half of football.

On the Wildcats’ first drive they had the ball intercepted by Hart cornerback Noah Keller.

The Indian’s offense drove down the field to eventually hand off the ball to Chris Clauss to take a 7-0 lead.

Things would only get better for Hart because as West Ranch was on the verge of scoring on the two yard line but the Indians speared the ball out of the quarterback’s hands to cause a fumble.

With Hart now in possession of the ball they had their hearts set on another touchdown.

To their delight they were able to pull ahead 14-0 after quarterback Timmy Larkins scrambled into the end zone for a Hart touchdown.

With three seconds left in the half the Indians managed to make a field goal to go up 17-0.

Being down three possessions at home was something West Ranch Head Coach Chris Varner never imagined and he knew he needed to get his team’s mind back in the game

“I’ve been saying this the entire season that we are a good team, we just haven’t been able to put it together. The talk is done, you have to do it, you’re down and I don’t even care what the score is we’re going to go out there and play better and play complete,” said coach Varner during his halftime speech.

West Ranch took that speech to heart and on their first drive after halftime punched the ball in the end zone courtesy of Deperno.

“We didn’t put our heads down we just came back and came out harder,” said Deperno

Down by 10 points the Wildcats handed the ball to Deperno for his second touchdown of the night, to make the score 17-14.

West Ranch would ride the wave of momentum to score two more touchdowns in the third quarter and take a 28-17 lead going into the final stretch of the game.

On the very first play of the fourth quarter Larkins connected with Shawn Irwin for an Indian touchdown.

On the first play of the 4th quarter, Hart answers back with a touchdown of their own. Along with a 2-point conversion.
West Ranch 28, Hart 23#Highschoolfootball #scvfootball pic.twitter.com/3g5iKubM3K

— KHTS Sports (@KHTSSports) September 30, 2023

After the touchdown Hart decided to go for a 2-point conversion and came up successful to bring the game to 28-25.

On the next play West Ranch muffed the kickoff and it allowed Hart to regain possession in a close game.

While in field goal range Hart decided not to go for a game tieing kick but to go for it on a fourth and short.

That call would prove to be costly because that would be the last chance Hart had of a scoring opportunity.

While Hart was kept out of the end zone, Deperno was able to score two more times before the end of the game.

https://twitter.com/KHTSSports/status/1707970845778571686

“This is a big momentum boost. We just have to keep on coming out with the same energy and I think we’ll dominate,” said Deperno regarding the remainder of the season.

West Ranch is set to be back in action at Valencia High School Friday Oct. 6 against Valencia with kickoff at 7 p.m.

Hart is scheduled to play Saugus Friday Oct. 6 at 7 p.m from the College of the Canyons.

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