Century League : Foothill Beats Tustin Again : Knights Win 12th Straight Over Tillers, 24-0

After five years as the Foothill High School football coach, you’d think Ted Mullen might have some idea where the Knights kept the Golden Gauntlet, the plaque that is awarded annually to the winner of the Foothill-Tustin game.

For the fifth straight year under Mullen, the Knights beat the Tillers to maintain possession of the plaque. But even after Foothill’s easy 24-0 victory in front of 3,500 fans on Tustin’s Northrup Field, Mullen had to guess where the Gauntlet might be stored.

“I’m not sure where it is--I think we keep it in the principal’s office,” Mullen said.

Foothill could probably build its own shrine for the Golden Gauntlet.

The plaque has been in the Knights’ possession since 1974. The last time Tustin beat Foothill was in 1972, when the Tillers won a 21-20 decision. The teams tied, 17-17, in 1973, and Foothill has won the last 12 games.

Friday night’s game was as one-sided as this cross-town rivalry has been during the past 12 years. The closest the Tillers could get to the end zone was when they advanced to the Foothill 22-yard line on their last possession of the game.

But a clipping penalty moved the ball back 15 yards, and George Menges’ next pass was intercepted in the end zone by Foothill’s Andrew Greco with 2:04 left. Tustin never got the ball back, and the Tillers suffered their first shutout at the hands of the Knights since 1975.

It appeared the game might be competitive as the teams played to a scoreless tie in the first quarter, but Foothill scored 17 points in the second period and was never threatened the rest of the way.

Tailback John Fischbeck rushed for 127 yards on 21 carries--his biggest single-game output of the season--and scored a touchdown to lead the Knights’ offense, which ran up 232 total yards. Quarterback Brian Horton completed 6 of 10 attempts for 71 yards and a touchdown.

Foothill’s offense moved the ball efficiently, but it was the special teams, particularly Bill Medina, that were responsible for two of the Knights’ three touchdowns.

Medina, who plays split end on offense, blocked two Tustin punts, the first of which Mike Geyer recovered and returned seven yards for a touchdown that put Foothill ahead, 10-0, with 5:06 left in the first half.

On Tustin’s next possession, Lani Machado was back in punt formation for the sixth time in the half. Again, Medina rushed in from the left side to get a hand on the kick, and the Knights took over at the Tiller 16-yard line.

Foothill lost eight yards on a screen pass to Keith Takabayashi, and Horton’s next pass was incomplete. But on third-and-18 from the 24, Horton found Mike Bryant open over the middle for a 21-yard gain.

Two plays later, from the 2-yard line, Horton faked a handoff and hit a wide-open Greg Randall in the end zone for a touchdown with 29 seconds remaining in the half. Carrick Brewster’s extra point made it 17-0, Foothill.

The Knights drove 70 yards on 11 plays to open the second half, and Fischbeck capped the 5 1/2-minute drive with a 7-yard touchdown run. Brewster, who kicked a 20-yard field goal to open scoring in the second period, added his third extra point to close out the scoring.

Mullen pulled most of his starters by the beginning of the fourth quarter. Foothill improved to 3-0 in the Century League and 4-2 overall, while Tustin dropped to 1-2 and 3-3.

The Tillers, who rolled up more than 300 yards rushing in last week’s win over Orange, were held to 77 yards on the ground Friday night. Tustin played without its leading rusher and scorer Tim Hollinger, who sprained his ankle last week, and starting offensive tackle Tim Russell, who has a nerve injury.

Neither starting quarterback Jim Russell, who completed 2 of 10 passes for 37 yards, nor backup George Menges, who completed 2 of 6 attempts for 8 yards, was effective. Machado was Tustin’s leading rusher with 35 yards.