PREP FOOTBALL : Fontana Reaches Semifinals, 17-14 : Washington Rushes for 126 Yards in Victory Over Loyola

Fontana High School advanced to the Big Five Conference semifinals with a 17-14 victory over Los Angeles Loyola, due in large part to 126 yards by running back Keith Washington, a hard-hitting defense, a punt that wasn’t and a punt that was.

A 39-yard chunk of Washington’s yardage total came with 7:39 to play on a touchdown run off a reverse, which gave the Steelers a 17-7 lead. Loyola came right back and made it 17-14 on its next possession, Tommy Peterson going over from three yards out with 5:03 remaining.

And then it came down to the punts.

Fontana was set to give the ball back to Loyola with 2:41 left. Quarterback George Paton (6 of 9, 114 yards) had three completions of 12 yards or more on the previous drive, and the Cubs had the momentum, although they trailed by three--the margin being Les Dayton’s 22-yard field goal with 1:49 to play in the third quarter.

But Paton and Loyola would not get a chance. On fourth and six from the Fontana 31, Richard Vanis broke through the Fontana offensive line and headed for punter Chris Hancock. Hancock got the kick away--and Vanis plowed straight into him.

Roughing the kicker: First and 10 for Fontana.

“It was obvious, wasn’t it?” Fontana Coach Dick Bruich said rhetorically. “Geez, they killed him. We were luckier than hell.”

Some 2 1/2 minutes later, the punt that was capped the win for Fontana.

Kicking again on the same drive, this time with 15 seconds left, Hancock got it away. The ball landed on about the Loyola 45 and rolled . . . and rolled . . . and rolled without a Cub player downing it, the clock running all the way.

All the way to zero.

“There wasn’t enough time to coach it,” said Loyola Coach Steve Grady, knocked out of the playoffs by Fontana for the second straight season. “We teach the kids that on a bad punt, get out of the way.”

Fontana improved to 11-1, the only loss coming early in the season to Wilmington Banning, the No. 1 team in the nation according to USA Today.

Except for Washington, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound senior, the Steelers had little offense. Fullback Matt McDermott (13 carries) got 4 of his 33 yards with seven minutes remaining in the first quarter for the first score of the game.

Loyola (9-3, with the other losses coming against top-10 teams Bellflower St. John Bosco and Encino Crespi) came in with little hope for a ball-control ground attack. Its top two backs, John Winnek and Marco Torres, were hurt, so Grady went with a trick play to tie the game, 7-7.

It came on a fake punt. The ball was snapped to the up man, Dan Glascott, who ran to the line of scrimmage and set the ball down between the legs of an offensive lineman. Fontana, perhaps not seeing the drop, adjusted for a Glascott run, but instead, Mike Buckley picked it up and sprinted 40 yards for the score.