Irvine Defense Knocks Tustin to the Sidelines

A good little man can beat a good big man.

That was the case Friday at Irvine, where an overflow crowd of 4,500 showed up to watch the host Vaqueros get in the chest of that physical brute, Tustin, and deliver a haymaker.

It yielded a stunning 23-6 victory for second-seeded Irvine, not so much because Irvine won and advanced to the Southern Section Division VI championship game next week, but because of the score.

Tustin. . . . six points?

The Tillers had averaged 44 this season, and though no one expected such an onslaught, few could have predicted that Irvine, with its smaller defensive linemen, could deliver such a crushing blow.

“Before the game, we asked, ‘Who’s got the bigger heart,’ ” said safety Joe Bollard, the lightning rod of Irvine’s defense. “They may be big, but we’ve got the bigger heart.”

Both teams play similar defenses but have contrasting styles. Irvine is small and quick, and Tustin is big and physical. The Tustin defense gave up 223 yards. Irvine gave up 227, all on the ground.

“They came out in the same defense that Santa Margarita did, that Servite did, that three or four teams did against us, and they were just too tough,” said Tustin Coach Myron Miller, whose team was trying to reach the Southern Section final for the first time since 1997. “They wouldn’t stay blocked. We couldn’t handle the speed of their defense.”

That defense, which improved Irvine’s record to 13-0 will get another chance to flex its muscle on Friday when it plays the winner of tonight’s game between La Mirada and Newport Harbor.

Tustin finished 11-2.

“This is just the greatest feeling I’ve ever had in football,” said Irvine quarterback Travis Otott, who completed 12 of 20 passes for 84 yards. “To beat them like that in such a high-pressure situation.. . . .”

At the start of the second quarter, Tustin was bullying through the Vaquero defense like it did most defenses this season. The Tillers drove 72 yards, all on the ground, in 15 plays. Frostee Rucker, averaging 9.9 yards per carry, was limited to 53 in 13 carries. He scored from the 12, but Kyle Dixon’s point-after attempt was blocked by Bollard.

Tustin’s emotional high lasted 15 seconds.

Godfrey Young returned the kickoff 96 yards, David Doomey added the extra point, and Irvine had a 7-6 lead that it took into the third quarter.

Then Irvine’s offense got in the act. Outgained in the first half, 137-87, the Vaqueros drove 74 yards as Otott completed all five of his passes for 40 yards, and also threw a long lateral to Doomey that gained 16 more. The finale was a lob to backup tight end Jon Lussier, who was wide open for a five-yard score. It was Lussier’s first reception of the season.

“I was pretty surprised,” Lussier said of Tustin’s lack of coverage. “It just came to me.”

Doomey missed the point-after, but connected on a 41-yard field goal with 1 minute 9 seconds left in the third quarter for a 16-6 lead. Young scored from two yards in the fourth quarter after Brian Porteous stopped Tustin on a fourth-down attempt from its eight-yard line. Doomey’s extra point made it 23-6.

“The key all night was the defense,” Otott said. “I can’t say enough about them.”