Tustin Lowers the Doom With Defense

Frostee Rucker remembers Coach Myron Miller calling Tustin High football players on the carpet after the Tillers lost to Servite, 14-6, in the third week of the season.

“Coach got on us pretty bad,” Rucker recalled. “He told us we had Division I players and we had to make big plays, that nobody should beat us because of our defense and that our defense should step up.”

Nobody has beaten Tustin since. And the defense, which has been the cornerstone of Tustin’s success the past two seasons, has gone largely unnoticed.

But make no mistake. When Irvine plays Tustin tonight in a Southern Section Division VI semifinal, the defense will be every bit as problematic for the Vaqueros as the Tiller offense that averages 44 points per game.

“Physically, it’s the best front seven we’ve played all year long,” said Coach Jim Hartigan, whose Santa Margarita team played Mater Dei, among others. “You’re going to have a hard time moving the ball on Tustin with that front seven, throwing or running. If you want to throw it, they’re going to get your quarterback. If you want to run it, you have to block a lot of pretty good football players.”

Those pretty good players are led by four seniors who are likely headed to Division I college programs.

* Chris Chester, a 6-foot-5, 230-pound weakside linebacker, has been offered scholarships to Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Texas A&M; and Arizona State, and is taking recruiting trips to Miami and Oregon State. Says Miller: “He’s a starter on the basketball team, throws the discus 168 feet, runs the 40 in 4.65 seconds. He’s just a great athlete. We run the ball with him, throw the ball to him, and he plays outside linebacker and he gets to a lot of plays.”

* Rucker, a 6-3, 218-pound middle linebacker who is taking trips to Oregon State, Colorado State and Fresno State. Says Miller: “He’s an unbelievable athlete and has a real nose for the ball. He goes from sideline to sideline making tackles.”

* James Kuklinski, a 6-3, 220-pound strong-side linebacker who has attracted attention from Weber State, Montana and Sacramento State. Says Miller: “He’s a pleaser. He wants to do the best he can for you every day. He wants to please his parents, he wants to please his teachers, he wants to please his football coaches. He does every single thing he can to be a good football player. I think he’s a real sleeper.”

* Matt McCoy, a 6-0, 200-pound linebacker who is taking trips to Oregon State, Fresno State and San Diego State. Says Miller: “He’s a missile. He has only one speed. You can’t even practice against him. I get mad at him. He won’t go half speed. He lives to play football. I’ve never had a kid in my whole career who loves football as much as this kid.”

These guys play like attack dogs. When Tustin met Santa Margarita, which was ranked fifth in Division I and seventh in Orange County at the time, McCoy had seven sacks in a 35-14 victory.

“It’s an assignment defense,” McCoy explained. “Go out there and destroy them.”

That has certainly been the case for the “Legion of Doom,” a title given the defense by its coordinator, Wally Grant.

“We’re going to go out and hit you hard and let you know you shouldn’t be on the field with us,” said Chester, who was visited this week by a Miami recruiter. “We don’t show much remorse for the opposing player. We’re not dirty players, but we want teams, when they think of Tustin, to think of a hard-hitting, smash-mouth football team.”

Grant gets most of the credit for the defense. When Miller arrived at Costa Mesa from Riverside Ramona in 1992, Grant was already the Mustangs’ freshman coach. He was the only coach who chose to remain on the staff with Miller, and he has been at Miller’s side since. They made the move to Tustin in 1995.

The L.O.D., as the players refer to themselves, has given up only 12.9 points per game and 445 yards rushing this season.

Tustin has allowed 22 points in each of its two playoff games, matching the season high that Ocean View scored against the Tillers. But teams aren’t scoring against them when it matters. Loara trailed, 28-0, before getting on the scoreboard in the second round. A week earlier, Foothill trailed, 26-3. And Ocean View was behind, 67-7.

Since the Servite game--the one that Rucker calls the turning point in Tustin’s season--the closest game was its 21-point victory over Santa Margarita.

“The best 11 players we have play defense,” Miller said, “and then we figure out how to make it work on offense.”