Tustin Crushes San Clemente, 42-0

Tustin High School used a bruising ground game and a stifling defense to shut down San Clemente, 42-0, in a nonleague game Friday in front of 2,800.

“We had some opportunities and everyone we had we took advantage of,” Tustin Coach Marijon Ancich said.

And those opportunities came early. After watching San Clemente’s fake punt attempt fail with an incomplete pass, Tustin tried one of its own. On its second possession of the game, Tustin’s Nick Kantu noticed that San Clemente left Jason Reynolds unguarded. Kantu called an audible and lobbed a pass to Reynolds, who broke two tackles and scored on a 57-yard pass play.

Tustin (4-0), ranked No. 6 in Orange County, went on to score on its next two possessions to build a 21-0 halftime lead.

Tustin added two more scoring runs and Keith Thomas returned a blocked punt 18 yards for another score in the second half. Jason Powell led all rushers with 93 yards in 10 carries, including a 31-yard first-half touchdown.

Powell left the game with a knee injury with 7 minutes 37 seconds left in the third quarter. The deepest San Clemente (1-3) could get into Tustin territory was the 39 on the first possession of the game.

San Clemente was held to just 116 yards total offense.