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ALLAN STEELE
PERRIS Perris Citrus Hill was its usual offensive juggernaut on Friday, but it was the Hawks’ defense that made the biggest impact in a 45-21 Mountain Pass League victory over Hemet. The win clinched a playoff spot for Citrus Hill, but the headline of the night was how the defense held Hemet’s powerful running back, Jeff Martin, relatively in check. Martin came in averaging nearly 216 yards per game but was held to 128 yards, 75 of those coming on one run. That run, midway through the second quarter, proved a turning point because the Hawks held a slim 17-7 advantage at the time and Martin bulled through the defense and appeared headed for a long touchdown run. But Hawks defensive back Skyler Thomas was able to catch Martin from behind and punch out the ball. Citrus Hill recovered the fumble and Hemet’s chances the rest of the game were few and far between until the game was out of reach in the second half. “It obviously wasn’t as clean as I would have liked it to be,” Citrus Hill coach Eric Zomalt said, rating his team’s performance for the playoff stretch. “We had some momentum-killing plays but we also had some big plays.” The second quarter was full of big plays. The fumble seemed to fire up the Hawks’ defense, but the offense responded emphatically when Devin Floyd busted loose for a 61-yard touchdown run on the last play of the half. The Hawks appeared content to run the clock out deep in their end of the field, but Floyd ran up the middle, then broke away from the Bulldogs defense and sprinted to the end zone with the clock at zero. Hemet (5-4, 1-3) couldn’t recover, and Martin had just 28 yards in the second half before being subbed out in the fourth. Quarterback Jerrell Brownhad another stellar game for the Hawks (8-1, 4-0), rushing for 148 yards and passing for three scores. He added a 67-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter that put Citrus Hill up 38-7. Floyd finished with 104 yards on just four carries and scored two touchdowns.