NEWHALL, Calif. – Brady White had no idea he was auditioning. A sixth grader at the time, he was just going about his business and trying to win football games. However, he was being watched. Closely.
Essentially a free agent at the time, Trent Irwin sat in the stands and watched as White picked apart the opposing defense during a youth football league Super Bowl. He was sold.
"He was just putting it right where he needed to put it," Irwin recalled. "I felt like the other team looked a little more athletic but he was throwing it where only his receivers could catch it."
Soon after, the wide receiver made his way to College of the Canyons to workout with White and his team, hoping to soon join them. White was sold.
"We had him run routes and play some corner and stuff," White recalled. "He kind of tore our kids up and made one of them feel really bad about himself.
"We were glad to have him join our youth team at that time."
There was instant chemistry.
What started then as sixth graders was the beginning of a bond through the game of football.
White and Irwin not only enjoyed playing the game, but playing the game together. They were determined to turn their success as youths into success at the high school level.
Hart High School was the destination where Irwin got a bit of a head start on his best friend, as he became the first freshman to start in program history.
He finished the season with 50 receptions for 785 yards as the Indians went 8-4 coming off of a 5-5 season in which they missed the playoffs. However, in the back of his mind, there was a part of him thinking the best was yet to come.
He would soon be reunited with White, who was tearing it up on the freshman level.
"We had a little bit of a quarterback controversy and I was thinking, you know he'll come next year probably and we'll get it back to what it was like," Irwin said. A year apart didn't interrupt the chemistry. White became the starter last season as a sophomore and threw for 2,575 yards and 23 touchdowns with just seven interceptions.
Irwin eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his brief career.
Now as juniors, they're helping Hart restore its glory of the past. White shot out of the gate with record setting performances. His 35 completions against Corona Santiago set a Hart single-game record. In the next week against Chaminade, he broke his own record with 39 completions. He also set school record with passing yards in a game (508) and tied Hart great Kyle Boller for most touchdown passes in a game (7).
When Hart (8-1, 3-1 Foothill League) takes on archrival Canyon (7-2, 3-1 Foothill League) on Friday night in the Ford CIF Southern Section Game of the Week at 7 p.m. on FOX Sports West, Irwin will enter the contest just 43 yards shy of owning the school's career record in receiving yards.
While the numbers are commendable, the duo is more concerned with delivering the school its first CIF title since 2003.
"You can't worry about records," Irwin said. "Records are cool. They look good but I just want to get a CIF ring.
"We had that mindset to bring Hart back. "
With one more win, it'll be Hart's best season since the 12-1-1 campaign of 2007.
