El Modena Can’t Solve Tiller Offense

The challenge facing El Modena in playing Tustin on Thursday was how to defend the wing-T, an old-time formation that involves deception and precise timing. Few teams use the system anymore, but it can be spectacularly successful when it works.

And right now it’s working extremely well for the 3-0 Tillers, who routed the Vanguards, 56-10, in front of an estimated 500 at El Modena.

Tustin running backs Deshaun Foster and Brandon Lambert had the Vanguard defense grasping at shadows. Lambert picked up 94 yards and a touchdown on the ground, and caught a nine-yard touchdown pass. Foster also did double duty, rushing for 78 yards and catching three passes for 89 yards. He scored four touchdowns.

Quarterback Todd Scott was equally effective, completing seven of nine passes for 199 yards and three touchdowns.

Even the defense got into the act, as Shaun Edwards returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, the game’s final points.

“It was like getting caught in an avalanche,” said El Modena Coach Steve Howard, whose team is 1-2. “They are so much better this year, so much faster. We’re trying to get ready for league; this shows we have a long way to go.

Tustin Coach Myron Miller agreed the difference in team speed was significant. “We probably had four-five guys faster than their guys,” he said. But Miller added that Scott’s added threat as a passer will keep teams from loading up against the run.

“We had two touchdown passes all last year,” Miller said. “Now we have five in three games. I think the entire offense is solid.”

The Vanguards beat the Tillers last year by putting up an eight- and nine-man front, daring Tustin to pass.

Howard decided to do the same thing again, in part because he was missing an important defensive cog--free safety Pat Salceda, who had a bad ankle.

“I still think that’s the way you have to defense them,” Howard said.

But the speed of Foster and Lambert shredded those plans. Each had 72 yards in the first half. Foster had scoring runs of three, nine and 20 yards, all in the first quarter. Lambert, who opened the game with a 34-yard burst around right end, had a one-yard scoring run in the second quarter.