BY MATT JOCKS
HEMET— Numbers don’t lie. Even when they’re difficult to believe. Perris Citrus Hill has been keeping scoreboards busy for years, but the Hawks’ nearly flawless performance by the first-team offense Friday against Hemet took it to a different level. Dominating in the air and on the ground, the Hawks blew the game open by halftime on the way to a 59-21 victory. The rout set the stage for next week’s showdown with Hemet Tahquitz at Citrus Hill that will likely determine the Mountain Pass League champion. Citrus Hill (7-1, 3-0 in league) was stopped threeand-out on its first drive. After that, the Hawks were unstoppable. By halftime, the Hawks had rolled up 426 yards in taking a 45-14 lead. The first unit capped it when tailback P.J. Walker reeled off a 79-yard touchdown on the first play of the second half. Walker left the game with 231 yards rushing in a half plus one play, and quarterback Brett Hollingsworth threw for 272 yards despite spending the entire second half as a spectator. “We try to get better every week and we felt pretty good about what we did tonight,” Coach Eric Zomalt said. “We cut down the penalties, we didn’t put the ball on the ground.” The burden Citrus Hill puts on opposing defense was evident in the big games by Hollingsworth and Walker. Hollingsworth finished 11 of 20 for 272 yards and three touchdowns. Walker had 231 yards and three scores on just 15 carries. “Having a D1 back in the backfield opens things up for the quarterback,” Hollingsworth said. “You can definitely see it in the way defenses play against us.” It helped on Friday that Citrus Hill spent the first half playing on a short field. The Hawks started four drives in Hemet territory in the half. On the other side, kicker James Camacho put every kickoff but one into the end zone. The one he didn’t was returned 97 yards for a touchdown by Romeo Salvador. By then, however, Citrus Hill had already built a 21-0 lead. The other score for Hemet (3-5, 1-2) came with just one minute left in the half. Even then, the Bulldogs couldn’t enjoy it long, as Citrus Hill went 77 yards in four plays to answer it. “Without the turnovers we had against Murrieta Mesa, Moreno Valley and Tahquitz, there’s no telling what might have happened. We might by 5-2 or 6-1,” Hemet coach Jeff Reitz said. “No one had just beaten us. Tonight, Citrus Hill just beat us.”