This Time, Eisenhower Shuts Down Fontana

Eisenhower High of Rialto showed no signs of being intimidated Friday night as it upset top-ranked Fontana, 16-7, before a record crowd of about 12,000 at Fontana High.

The Eagles, The Times’ second-ranked team, dominated the game, holding Fontana’s potent running game to 127 yards, 175 yards below its average. Eisenhower outgained Fontana in total offense, 238 yards to 135.

The victory clinched the Southern Section’s Citrus Belt League title for Eisenhower, which improved to 5-0 in league and 10-0 overall. Fontana, the defending Division I champion whose 23-game winning streak ended, is 4-1 and 9-1.

Fontana’s last loss was to Bishop Amat, 28-27, in the second round of the 1988 playoffs.

Eisenhower, which hadn’t beaten rival Fontana since 1978, will be the No. 1-seeded team in next week’s opening round of the playoffs. Fontana probably will be seeded No. 2 or No. 3.

The victory generated so much excitement for Eisenhower fans that they tore down a goal post after the game.

“I’ve wanted this win for a very long time,” said Tom Hoak, in his eighth year as Eisenhower’s coach.

“I’m going to savor this for a while. Now we have a chance at the (Southern Section) championship.”

Fontana lost three fumbles. The first proved to be the most costly, as linebacker Omar Love scooped up running back Hollerith Jones’ fumble at the Fontana 32-yard line and returned it for a touchdown. It gave the Eagles a 7-0 lead and set the tone of the game.

Love, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound senior, was the workhorse. He also starts at running back and led Eisenhower with 134 yards in 16 carries.

Love scored the second touchdown of the game, a 56-yard run up the middle midway through the second quarter to put the Eagles ahead, 13-0. Love’s run was set up by a Fontana fumble at the Eisenhower 42.

“This game meant a lot,” Love said. “We’ve been trying very hard for this.”

Robert Talley accounted for the final points when he kicked a 37-yard field goal with six minutes remaining in the third quarter to give the Eagles a 16-7 lead.

“Their team speed was even better than we thought it was,” Fontana Coach Dick Bruich said.

“Mistakes on our part also really hurt. That’s high school football.”

Eisenhower held Fontana to 82 yards of offense in the first half. The Steelers’ only touchdown was an eight-yard run late in the second quarter by Ray Tongole, a starting linebacker brought in on goal-line situations.