Football: Valencia is the new Hart

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There was a time Newhall Hart had the most innovative offensive attack. Now Valencia has taken over as the Santa Clarita Valley’s best offense.

In opening its season with a 49-32 win over Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, Valencia relied on its two big offensive weapons, quarterback Alex Bishop and running back Steven Manfro.

Bishop completed 16 of 23 passes for 380 yards and four touchdowns. Manfro scored five touchdowns, rushing for 177 yards and catching five passes for 189 yards.

All this coming from a team whose head coach, Larry Muir, was once the defensive coordinator at Mission Hills Alemany. Then he studied the passing offense run by the Herrington brothers at Hart and has created his own tough offense to handle.

As far as Notre Dame (0-2), it could be a long season. The Knights’ defense is struggling, the offense has no effective running or passing attack and the games aren’t going to get much easier when Serra League play begins. But there are lots of young players on the team, and starting a season against top offensive schools Gardena Serra and Valencia was a tough task.

-- Eric Sondheimer