COLLEGE FOOTBALL : CS Fullerton Wins, but Loses Tailback Thomas

After starting the last five seasons with losses, Cal State Fullerton finally won a season opener, defeating Sonoma State, 38-24, Saturday before 2,091 in Santa Ana Stadium.

However, the Titans lost their starting tailback, Deon Thomas, who suffered severe ligament damage to his left knee and will be sidelined for the season. They also lost the only returning starter on their offensive line, guard Shannon Illingworth, who suffered a hyper-extended elbow and will be out for at least three weeks.

The Titans will play at third-ranked Auburn next Saturday and at Mississippi State Sept. 15.

“We’ll be there, we’ll show up,” Fullerton quarterback Paul Schulte said of the trip to Auburn. “It should be fun.”

Said Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy: “All aspects of our game have to get better: our running game, our passing game, everything. We’re a young football team, and we’ll get better.”

Considering 36 of 56 players in uniform had never played in a varsity game, Fullerton showed some promise Saturday. The Titan defense, led by linebackers Clarence Siler and Lorenzo Hailey and backs Howard McCrary and Terry Tramble, limited the Division II Cossacks to minus 21 yards rushing, a Fullerton record.

Reggie Yarbrough, who replaced Thomas to start the second half, ran 80 yards for a touchdown that gave Fullerton a 24-17 lead in the third quarter, and Schulte, a senior making his first varsity start, passed for 224 yards and two touchdowns.

But overall, the Titans were extremely inconsistent on both offense and defense. Schulte completed 20 of 41 passes, and his one interception was returned 26 yards for a touchdown by linebacker James Solley.

Other than Yarbrough’s long touchdown run, the Titans had only 61 yards rushing. Schulte also was sacked three times.

The secondary was supposed to be Fullerton’s strength, but three Cossack quarterback combined for 283 yards and two touchdowns.

Fullerton also fumbled six times, losing three, and was penalized nine times for 75 yards.

The Titans didn’t seal the victory until late in the fourth quarter, when Schulte passed to Richard Harrison for a 49-yard touchdown with 5:12 remaining.

Sonoma State had pulled to within a touchdown when John Spear, the Cossacks’ third quarterback, threw a five-yard scoring pass to Deangelo Mitchell, the younger brother of San Francisco Giant outfielder Kevin Mitchell, to make the score 31-24 with 6:19 left.

The score was set up by Solley’s recovery of Nuygen Pendleton’s fumble on a punt return. But on Fullerton’s next possession, Yarbrough’s runs of 25 and four yards gave the Titans the ball at the Cossack 49, and Schulte passed to Harrison on a post pattern for the touchdown.