Tustin Blasts Ocean View, 81-22

There was nothing mentally challenging about the approach Tustin’s football team took in getting ready to play Golden West League opponent Ocean View.

The host Tillers worked on four plays all week but used only one much of the time in drilling the Seahawks, 81-22.

The victory gave No. 8 Tustin (5-1, 1-0) the early advantage in league and has some historical qualities as well.

The 81 points is the third-most scored in a game by an Orange County team. Fullerton tops the list with 109 in 1921. Tustin holds the next three positions. The Tillers had 82 in 1996, 81 Thursday and 78 last year.

“We were just too big and too strong for them,” Tustin Coach Myron Miller said.

Ocean View (4-2, 0-1) led, 7-0, early and had a chance to extend the lead because Tustin fumbled three times in the first quarter. But Ocean View failed to convert any turnovers into points and Tustin finally got moving.

The one play the Tillers relied on most of the time is a pitch play where a back, who is lined just outside the tackle, takes a pitch and follows a wall of blockers that includes quarterback David Miller.

“That’s the fun part of football,” David Miller said, “getting up in the hole and hitting somebody.”

Senior running back Frostee Rucker lead a fierce ground attack, gaining 206 yards and scoring four touchdowns in nine carries. He averaged 22.8 yards a carry and had touchdown runs of 72, 56, 44 and 12 yards.

Rucker was just the start for Tustin, which finished with 527 yards rushing and 42 yards passing.

Matt McCoy, who is also a standout linebacker, added 81 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Steven Diaz gained 75 yards and scored once and Ricky Miller had 73 yards and two touchdowns.

Phillip Smith caught seven passes, including three for touchdowns, for 207 yards for Ocean View.