Toreros Make Fogarty Winningest USD Coach

University of San Diego Coach Brian Fogarty is not one to talk much about his accomplishments, and he even gets a bit embarrassed when someone else does.

Perhaps that is why few people realized that Fogarty was about to become the winningest football coach in USD history.

After Saturday night’s 31-7 victory over Claremont in front of 3,244 fans in USD’s Torero Stadium, Fogarty is just that, wresting the honor from his predecessor, Bill Williams.

Two games into his eighth season, Fogarty is 35-33-2. Williams was 34-36-1 in seven years.

“I didn’t even know that was the case,” Fogarty said. “I guess if you stay some place long enough, those things happen.”

That’s not entirely true. Fogarty has done an admirable job recruiting fine student-athletes without the help of a scholarship lure, and he has made the transition to recruiting freshman instead of community college transfers. He also has established a fine, deceptive offense and a dominating aggressive defense.

After going 15-24-1 in his first four seasons, Fogarty has gone 20-9-1 since the start of 1987. He has also won nine of his past 11 games, including seven in a row at USD.

USD (2-0) has also defeated Claremont four consecutive years by a combined score of 101-35.

Saturday night, USD did it with a running game that pounded out 262 yards. It did it with a controlled passing game that completed six of nine for 137 yards. And it did it with a defense that held Claremont to 159 total yards, only 15 in the second half.

John Eck was the big-play man on offense for the Toreros. Triple-threat Eck ran for one touchdown, caught another one and added a 39-yard completion on a halfback option pass to Ty Barksdale.

Eck finished with 86 yards rushing in eight carries and 54 yards in three receptions.

Eck’s two long touchdowns and a 42-yard field goal by Dave Bergmann gave USD a 17-7 lead at halftime.

On the second play of USD’s second possession, Eck broke free in the Claremont secondary after a play-action fake to him in the backfield, and Brendan Murphy hit him easily for a 41-yard touchdown.

“I was scared I was going to drop it,” Eck said. “I was so wide open.”

On USD’s next play from scrimmage--49 seconds later--Eck broke free on a counter play between right guard and tackle and rambled untouched 58 yards.

“You could have driven a truck through there,” Eck said. “I mean, I have no wheels, and if I could score on that, anyone could.”

As for the halfback pass, Eck was a quarterback at Carson High before coming to USD.

For the first 19 minutes, USD limited Claremont to 66 yards in four possessions. That’s when the Stags finally got things going, driving 80 yards in 13 plays covering 6:21. Reed Pangborn dived over from the one to cap the drive, and USD’s lead was just 14-7.

Bergmann, who had missed earlier on a 37-yard field-goal attempt, nailed a 42-yarder from the right hash mark with no time remaining in the first half. The key play in the 42-yard drive, which started with 1:12 left, was a 31-yard pass from Murphy to senior Chris Redlew.