Sunny Hills Slows Down, but Edges Fullerton to Stay Unbeaten

The defensive struggle between Fullerton and Sunny Hills high schools included Sunny Hills rushing for 200 yards and Fullerton getting into Sunny Hills territory on each of its three fourth-quarter possessions.

Oh, people were gaining ground Friday at Fullerton District Stadium, but when it came to scoring, the defenses made like Gumby--bending, but rarely breaking.

Sunny Hills (8-0, 3-0) won the Freeway League game, 9-6, scoring its only touchdown on a fumble recovery. The Lancers came into the game averaging 28 points a game. They had cruised through their first seven opponents with the closest margin of victory a 13-point win over Esperanza three weeks ago.

Things didn’t appear to be that much different in this one early on. Sunny Hills, a predominately running team that passed only two times Friday, drove to the Fullerton 37 on its first drive before stalling. Its second drive resulted in a 37-yard field goal by Matt Young with 4:28 left in the first quarter.

But Fullerton (5-3, 1-2) came right back with a nine-play, 65-yard drive in which quarterback Rene Arias completed four of six passes, including a 24-yard touchdown pass to Glenn Eggert with 48 seconds left in the first quarter. John Bailey’s conversion kick was wide and Fullerton led, 6-3.

Sunny Hills came back with what would be the game’s final scoring drive, a 14-play, 75-yard march in which the Lancers ran 13 times. Brian Pizula, who rushed for 98 yards on 24 carries, carried the ball seven times for 43 yards on the drive. But it was running back Kenny Overby who ran 10 yards to the Fullerton one-yard line and, as he was struggling for another yard, fumbled into the end zone. Tight end Brett Ransom fell on the ball for the touchdown.

Turnaround being fair play, the conversion was blocked by Bailey, the Fullerton kicker. But Sunny Hills had the 9-6 lead it would eventually win by.

And then it was left to the defenses.

Sunny Hills stopped Fullerton three times when the Indians had driven into Sunny Hills territory in the fourth quarter. Fullerton allowed Sunny Hills on its side of the field only once in the second half.

“Both defenses did a great job,” said Tim Devaney, Sunny Hills coach. “This is a very emotional game for both teams, no matter the situation, no matter if it’s for first place or for last, emotion played a big part in this one.”

As it turned out this year, Fullerton and Sunny Hills, cross-town rivals to begin with, were playing for a piece of first place. Sunny Hills came into the game alone in first with a 2-0 record. Fullerton was tied with three other teams for second.

The Fullerton defense, led by outstanding junior linebacker D.C. Olsen, did what no other team has been able to do this year: It grounded the Sunny Hills ground game.

Sunny Hills’ trio of Pizula, Overby and Mike Sullivan never seemed to get on track.