Fresno St. Rolls to a 38-3 Victory Over Fullerton

If Saturday night’s Big West Conference opener against Fresno State was “the game of the year,” as Cal State Fullerton coaches and players built it up to be, then the Titans won’t have much else to look forward to in 1990.

Fresno State whipped Fullerton, 38-3, before 33,624 in Bulldog Stadium.

The Bulldogs (5-0) threw everything they had at Fullerton (1-4), leaving the Titans practically defenseless.

Quarterback Mark Barsotti, 26-3 as a Fresno State starter, completed 12 of 24 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns.

Tailback Aaron Craver, who didn’t play football when he attended Compton High School, rushed for 121 yards and two touchdowns, and fullback Lorenzo Neal added 112 yards and a touchdown.

Punter Brad Seagle even ran 47 yards with a fake punt in the first quarter, prolonging a drive that ended with a field goal.

And to add injury to insult, Fullerton’s best defensive player, linebacker Clarence Siler, went down with a knee injury midway through the third quarter and had to be carried from the field. Siler did not return.

Fresno State took advantage of two Fullerton turnovers and several penalties--the bane of the Titans’ existence in two of three previous losses--to take a 24-3 lead after two quarters.

Fullerton had driven from its 28-yard line to the Bulldog nine on its first possession, 43 of those yards coming on a pass from Paul Schulte to J.J. Celestine. But Schulte fumbled the snap on a first-and-goal play from the nine, and Jeff Thiesen recovered for Fresno State.

The Bulldogs then drove 88 yards in 11 plays, with Barsotti hitting Marty Thompson on a 20-yard, play-action pass for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. Fifteen yards of the drive came on Fullerton cornerback Lionel Denman’s pass interfence penalty.

Another pass interference call, this one on safety Terry Tramble, who was playing his first game in three weeks, hurt the Titans on Fresno State’s next possession, which ended with Derek Mahoney’s 24-yard field goal and a 10-0 Bulldog lead.

Fullerton scored early in the second quarter on Phil Nevin’s 22-yard field goal, but Fresno State dominated the remainder of the period, scoring two touchdowns. A personal foul penalty on Lorenzo Hailey for a late hit and Darrell Bruce’s pass-interference penalty accounted for 30 yards of the Bulldogs’ 75-yard drive.

Barsotti, scrambling to his right, drilled Chris Gawley in the right rear corner of the end zone with a 17-yard touchdown pass, and Mahoney added the extra point for a 17-3 lead with 5:27 left in the half.

Schulte went back to pass on the Titans’ next possession and fumbled after being hit by Judd Foell. Thiesen recovered again for Fresno State on the Fullerton 47, and it took the Bulldogs eight plays to reach the end zone, Craver scoring from one yard out for a 24-3 lead.

Fresno added two more touchdowns in the third quarter, the first on Craver’s 11-yard run and the second on Neal’s one-yard run.