Tustin overwhelms Ocean View

The Ocean View Seahawks went from contenders to pretenders for the

Golden West League football title mighty fast during Thursday night’s

showdown with visiting Tustin.

The Tillers simply were overpowering, as they combined an over-zealous

defense with an unstoppable rushing game to dismantle the Seahawks, 78-7,

at Huntington Beach High’s Sheue Field.

The victory gave Tustin sole possession of the 1999 league championship

and the league’s top seed in next week’s CIF Southern Section Division VI

playoffs.

Ocean View, which could have earn a share of the league title with a

victory over Tustin, now must await the outcome of a coin flip to see if

the Seahawks will be included in the postseason picture.

The Seahawks, now 7-3 overall and 2-2 in league, finished in a three-way

tie for second-place, thanks to Santa Ana’s 34-20 victory over

Westminster Thursday.

A coin flip today between those three schools will determine the league’s

second- and third-place playoff entries, and two of the three scenarios

favor the Seahawks.

‘We’ll just have to wait and see,’ Ocean View Coach Harold Eggers managed

to say with a smile, despite the 71-point whipping his team just

absorbed.

‘Tustin just had too much for us. They were too fast, too quick...you

name it. We simply were outnumbered tonight.

‘I was proud of our kids, though, because they never quite in spite of

being at a disadvantage. Tustin has a lot of talent, and this is the 10th

game this season that a lot of our kids have played both ways. It’s

starting to take its toll on this team.’

Tustin, which is now 7-3 overall with its losses coming to Division I

schools Servite, Bishop Amat, and Los Alamitos, came into Thursday’s game

averaging 35 points per game. By the midway point of the second quarter,

the Tillers had already surpassed that mark.

‘I thought we played real well overall tonight,’ Tustin Coach Myron

Miller said. ‘We’ve played a real tough schedule, and it’s a great

feeling to win a league title.

‘The truth is, I give Ocean View a lot of credit. They’ve won seven games

and appear to be playoff-bound, and that hasn’t happened for them in a

long, long time. We have the better athletes, but they (Ocean View) never

gave up.’Tustin led 20-0 after the first quarter and 46-7 at the half.

The Tillers got all 315 of their first half yards on the ground, with

quarterback David Miller attempting his only pass (an incompletion) of

the half with 47 seconds left before the break.

Senior running back Branden Malcom, who came into the contest averaging

7.4 yards per carry, exploded for 217 yards - 157 of which came in the

second quarter - on 19 first half carries.

Malcom scored on runs of 7, 1, and 57 yards, in addition to scoring on

four, two-point conversion runs.

His longest run of the half was a 66-yard dash, but Seahawk defensive

back Phillip Smith prevented Malcom from reaching the end zone a fourth

time by chasing him down from behind and making the tackle at the Ocean

View four-yard line.

All Smith did was delay the inevitable, as Miller, who opened the night’s

scoring with a twisting, 13-yard keeper midway though the first quarter,

scored on a four-yard sneak on the very next play, and Malcom’s

conversion run gave the Tillers a 38-0 lead.

Tustin’s defense made it a long night for Ocean View quarterback Deshai

Houston, who entered the game with 2,158 passing yards. The Tillers

harassed Houston into his worst performance of the season as the senior

struggled to complete just 4 of 15 passes for 66 yards, with two

interceptions, in the first half.

Houston did manage, however, to pick up his 33rd touchdown pass of the

season when he and Patrick Campbell hooked up on a 57-yard scoring pass

late in the second quarter.

Campbell made the reception at the Tustin 30, then galloped to the

five-yard line before Tiller defensive back Chris Chapman clamped down on

the lanky sophomore receiver. Campbell, however, withstood Chapman’s

assault, and broke free to the end zone.

Overall, Houston was just 7 of 29 for a season-low 92 yards.

Despite his struggles offensively, Houston, who also starts at defensive

back, intercepted Miller in the third quarter for his sixth interception

of the season.

Malcom finished the night with 251 yards on 25 carries, and was

complimented nicely by fellow senior back Mike Zill, who burnt the

Seahawks for 191 yards on just 11 carries.

Zill scored on runs of 11 and 58 yards in the third quarter to up

Tustin’s lead to 62-7 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Tiller defense sacked Houston five times for minus-41 yards (with

four of the sacks going to Matt McCoy), came up with three interceptions

(two off Houston, the other off Jason Rhoads on a halfback pass), and two

fumble recoveries.

In addition, Tustin’s special teams recovered two onside kicks.

‘Our defense has set the tone for us this year,’ said Miller, whose

defense held both Bishop Amat and Los Alamitos to less than 200 yards of

total offense in two close defeats. ‘Our defense deserves a lot of credit

for our success this year.’