BY MATT JOCKS
HEMET—There’s no way of knowing yet where this football season will take the Hemet High football team. Wherever it is, though, it’s a good bet the Bulldogs will get there in a hurry. No-huddle offenses have been the trend in football for several seasons , but the Bulldogs have a particularly heavy foot on the accelerator when they choose to go full-speed. In Friday’s 58-0 victory over Indio, the Bulldogs put up some remarkable numbers. Hemet had eight touchdown drives. Total time of possession: 7 minutes, 51 seconds. Five of the drives came in under a minute. The longest was 1:35. In those 7:51, the Bulldogs managed to run 29 plays along with three dead-ball penalties that kept the clock moving. The Bulldogs have used multiple quarterbacks, but the primary orchestra leader is Justice Judge, a senior in his first year as the starter. “It’s more mentally difficult than physically,” Judge said. “I’m always having to think about how we’re supposed to run it and what we’re doing next.” In the year leading up to the launch of the offense, the Bulldogs had to work on both conditioning and precision. In the process, Judge made an impression on coach Jeff Reitz. “He is such a warrior,” Reitz said. “Last year, we didn’t have an audible . He’s audibled 11 times so far. His knowledge of the game is impressive.” The hurry-up has transformed Hemet (2-1) into an offense unrecognizable from last year’s. In the first half Friday, Hemet reached the 100-point mark for the season. The Bulldogs didn’t do that until the next-to-last week of the season in 2012. “When we started, I knew it was going to be tough to learn,” Judge said. “But I like it. I like it when I can see the (opponents’) defense getting tired. You can tell, when they start taking a knee.” Hemet’s conditioning hasn’t been an issue, even with the hot weather of the first three weeks. “Hey, I’m the fattest guy on the team,” Reitz said. Hemet has been rolling on the ground, but Judge said the Bulldogs will be more formidable when they add a substantial passing threat. Against Indio, Hemet completed just two passes for 29 yards, though one was for a touchdown. “I just need to be more accurate with my throws,” Judge said. “We want to get where other teams don’t know what’s coming. I need to get better.”Hemet blanks Indio
HEMET 58, INDIO 0
HEMET—Hemet High’s offense looks a little like a basketball fast-break drill and, on Friday, there was no shortage of dunks and layups. Running their hurry-up attack with deadly efficiency, the Bulldogs scored on five of their first six possessions on the way to crushing Indio, 58-0. In improving to 2-1, Hemet scored more points in one night than it did in the first six games of last season. “We’ve never been perfect,” Hemet Coach Jeff Reitz said. “But we want to be consistently right. And we did things really right tonight.” The pace of Hemet’s offense was such that the longest of the Bulldogs’ eight scoring drives was 1 minute, 35 seconds. Hemet’s two-headed rushing attack led the way. Sean Ruh carried 11 times for 159 yards and three touchdowns. Art Cruz had a short night’s work, carrying five times for 76 yards, all in the first half. He had a 24-yard scoring run. “Both of our runners are really good,” Reitz said. “We have two kids who run under 4.7 (in the 40) and they both run really hard. They’re special kids.” The Bulldogs charged to a 21-0 first-quarter lead and added a safety and a touchdown in the first two minutes of the second quarter. Izzy Hodgson’s fumble recovery set up another touchdown and the Bulldogs added a late score to up its lead to 44-0 at halftime. Ruh broke loose up the middle for a 74-yard touchdown run on the opening drive of the second half, marking the end of the night for the first-team offense. From there, the only drama involved the Bulldogs preserving the shutout. It was threatened when Indio’s Christopher Melendrez hooked up with Ryan Reyes up the left sideline, but Hemet’s Nick Emerson ran down Reyes after a 59-yard gain. The play accounted for more than half of Indio’s offense, as Hemet outgained the Rajahs 448-110. At one point, Hemet held Indio without a first down on 11 of 14 possessions.