Tillers rally to win Southwest Division
Myron Miller, the veteran football coach at Tustin, follows this philosophy: There are three things that can happen when you throw a pass, and two of them are bad.
In a time when spread offenses have spread seemingly everywhere, Tustin has stuck with its run-oriented power attack with two tight ends and a fullback, and the Tillers came away Saturday with their first title since 1948 after defeating Lake Forest El Toro, 35-28, in the Southwest Division final at Angel Stadium.
Tustin passed for eight yards and ran for 334 yards. Tyler Siudzinski gained 180 yards in 35 carries and scored two second-half touchdowns to rally the Tillers (11-3).
“We were down, 21-7, and on our backs,” Miller said.
Everything changed at the outset of the second quarter, when Tustin went on a 65-yard, 14-play scoring drive that consumed more than seven minutes off the clock. It was capped by a five-yard touchdown run by Terence Martinez that brought the Tillers within 21-14 with 2:28 left in the half. In the second half, Tustin wore down the Chargers (12-2). Edward Tandy’s 52-yard interception return for a touchdown with 6:14 left gave Tustin a 28-21 lead. Then Siudzinski scored on a 10-yard run with 9:04 left for a 35-21 lead.
“We just took it to them,” Siudzinski said. “Our O-Line -- I couldn’t do it without them.”
El Toro quarterback Conner Manning finished his first three drives of the game with touchdown passes. He ended up 24 for 41 for 295 yards and four touchdowns with two interceptions. He passed for an Orange County-record 4,225 yards for the season.
Tustin kept picking up first downs on fourth and short, with Miller refusing to punt despite the ball being deep in his own territory. He thinks his team should pick up a first down every time there’s two yards or less to go. And they did.
“We left everything on the field,” Siudzinski said.
Former Tustin star DeShaun Foster was on the sideline rooting for the Tillers.
