No Passing Fancy, Borza Just Gets the Job Done : Prep football: Quarterback’s statistics aren’t spectacular, but they’re good enough to guide Tustin into tonight’s championship game.

The idea was to bamboozle the defense, pick up a few easy yards, then worry about the next play. Andy Borza didn’t intend to run 65 yards for a touchdown on a quarterback sneak.

He didn’t mean to be selfish, calling his own number at the line of scrimmage. He was merely taking what the defense was giving, as the coaches had been telling him.

As it happened, no defenders were near as he sprinted into the end zone late in Tustin High School’s 27-3 victory over Mater Dei Sept. 13.

“It was the first time in my life that I felt I accomplished something big,” said Borza, Tustin’s senior quarterback.

Later, he went home and tried to digest what had happened.

He had run for touchdowns before. Passed for them, too. But this was different.

“Gosh, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime run,” he would tell himself late that night.

Score one for Joe Average. Borza is a good, but not great, high school quarterback. But there are some great quarterbacks who won’t be playing in championship games this weekend.

Borza will lead Tustin (13-0) into the Southern Section Division VI championship game against Sunny Hills (10-3) at 7:30 tonight at Orange Coast College.

A few days before the title game, Coach Marijon Ancich surveyed Borza’s statistics and nodded approvingly.

Passes attempted: 156

Passes completed: 100

Percentage: 64.1

Yards: 1,298

Touchdowns: 10

Interceptions: 10

“Everyone wants spectacular,” Ancich said. “You go through this for so many years, and you find that some guys just get it done.”

That’s Borza in a nutshell. No flash, only substance.

He has done all the right things to make himself a championship-caliber quarterback. He has studied films endlessly. He has scarfed down plates of pasta and loaves of seven-grain wheat bread in a diet better suited to a marathon runner.

So what if Notre Dame or Miami or USC aren’t on Borza’s doorstep nightly, waiting for him to make a commitment. Who cares if his prospects for a NCAA Division I scholarship are unclear at the moment?

The future is tonight’s championship game against Sunny Hills.

Borza has been dreaming about this moment for a long time.

He remembers his freshman season, running endless laps around the Tustin track and chanting with his teammates.

Over the years, the players’ precise words have been forgotten, but their meaning remains clear: win.

Last spring, Borza inscribed teammates’ yearbooks with a simple message: “14-0, League Champs, CIF Champs.”

Now, he’s only a victory away from realizing that goal.

Through two seasons as the Tillers’ starting quarterback, Borza has followed simple rules of thumb.

“We just do our best, play to our potential,” he said.

“Some people don’t want the burden of leadership. Many people in life are followers. I don’t want to be that way.”

OK, they’re cliches, but heck, they’re working.

Ancich, who will be making his sixth appearance in a championship game, likes Borza’s accuracy, consistency, smarts and strength.

“He’s not Rob Johnson (El Toro’s highly recruited quarterback),” Ancich said. “He can’t throw a 90-yard pass.”

But that’s OK with Ancich.

Asked about his best attribute, Borza said, “Desire to win.”

And his weakness?

“I don’t want to sound like I’m a terrible quarterback, but you can always be better,” he said. “There’s always room for improvement.”

Standing one victory away from an undefeated season, Borza appears to have perfection within his grasp.