Fontana Pounds Out a Victory : Prep football: Gipson rushes 37 times for 171 yards against Eisenhower.

In a battle between two of the Southern Section’s most physical teams, Fontana High running back Art Gipson was the difference in the Steelers’ 12-0 victory over Eisenhower on Thursday night in Rialto.

Gipson, a 6-foot-1, 210-pound junior, rushed for 171 yards in a career-high 37 carries to lead Fontana (10-0), The Times’ No. 1-rated team, to its 11th Citrus Belt League championship since 1975.

“I was just doing what the coaches wanted me to do, and that was to carry the ball,” Gipson said. “After a while, I just had to suck it up and run harder.”

On their first possession, the Steelers held the ball for more than nine minutes with a 15-play, 78-yard drive to take a 6-0 lead.

“Like [former USC Coach] John McKay once said, ‘The ball is not heavy, it’s light,’ ” Fontana Coach Dick Bruich said.

Gipson, who has 1,207 yards and 14 touchdowns in 10 games, ran behind the blocking of fullback Anselmo Zamano and tight end Chris Alex 12 times in the drive for 67 yards and capped the march with a four-yard sweep at the start of the second quarter.

“We just had to take it to them,” said Zamano, who also had a key fourth-quarter interception. “We had to show them that we worked harder in the off-season.”

Fontana, which has not won a Southern Section Division I title since 1989, was able to shut down Eisenhower, which was held to 71 yards in offense.

No. 11 Eisenhower (8-2) came into the game on an eight-game winning streak. On Thursday, however, the Eagles’ top two running backs, Will Smith and Sam Blanche, combined for only 48 yards in 14 carries.

Fontana clinched the game in the fourth quarter after an 11-yard punt by Eisenhower when quarterback Peter Guerrero scrambled 23 yards for a touchdown.

Since 1985, Fontana or Eisenhower has won or shared the league title every year.