Fullerton Rallies to Win, but Coach Is Unimpressed

RANCHO CUCAMONGA — Even big plays can’t draw big smiles from Pat Ward, Fullerton High School football coach.

Fullerton improved to 3-0 after scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter Thursday night to defeat Alta Loma, 36-18, at Chaffey College. But the Indians’ coach wasn’t impressed.

“We are not a good football team at all,” said Ward, in his first year at the school. “This was the worst football game we’ve played all year.” A tricky lateral-and-pass play gave Alta Loma (1-2) an 18-15 lead at the end of the third quarter. Alta Loma quarterback Robert Church hit Alfie Gallegos with a long lateral, and then Gallegos heaved a 39-yard scoring pass to Rob Barry.

Even David Chacon, who almost single-handedly brought Fullerton back from the brink, didn’t escape criticism. Ward saw Chacon speaking to reporters after the game and told him: “Give them a few words, then get your butt off the field. You’re not an NFL player.”

Chacon, a 5-foot-9 cornerback and running back, erased the 18-15 deficit when he scooped up a punt blocked by teammate D.C. Olsen and scrambled 55 yards down the sideline for a touchdown.

Chacon also picked off two passes, returning the second interception 54 yards for Fullerton’s final score of the game.

Olsen blocked two punts, with the first setting up his own five-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. He also scored on a two-yard dive in the first quarter.

Olsen carried 11 times for 59 yards. Reserve halfback James Peterson added a 33-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.