TUSTIN – A balanced offense is an unusual offense in Tustin football history.
The Tillers just might have one this season.
Tustin rushed for 158 yards and passed for 166 yards in a 30-17 win over San Clemente in the season opener for both teams Friday at Tustin High.
Tillers sophomore quarterback Ayden Edwards completed 11 of 15 passes for 166 yards with two touchdowns.
Tustin junior running back Eli Robinson rushed for 97 yards, 45 of them on one carry.
And big Jeremiah Williams, at 6-2 and 300 pounds, scored on an 18-yard run.
Tustin sophomore receiver Hayden Koo had eight receptions for 118 yards and a touchdown. Brannon Hampton, a senior, caught Edwards’ other touchdown pass.
The Tillers are famous for their running attack. It is the program that had future NFL star running back DeShaun Foster, now the UCLA head coach, in the 1990s and, most recently, Eimesse Essis who last season as a senior averaged 181 rushing yards a game.
Tillers junior Jeremiah Salvant scored on a 91-yard kickoff return and had an interception. Tustin senior linebacker Tim Ioane, an All-Orange County second-team selection last season, had an interception he returned 40 yards in the fourth quarter.
San Clemente junior quarterback Eiler King threw for 176 yards. Tritons senior running back Carson Sloan rushed for 67 yards and scored his team’s two touchdowns.
Sloan opened the scoring on a 1-yard run in the first quarter. Salvant followed immediately with his 91-yard kickoff return to tie it 7-7.
San Clemente kicker Ethan Miller made a 25-yard field goal early in the second quarter to put the Tritons on top 10-7. Tustin’s Titus Najera kicked his own 25-yard field goal to tie it 10-10 with 8:02 remaining in the second quarter. Ayden Edwards threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Koo for a 17-10 Tillers lead.
Tustin discord on a 75-yard, seven-play drive in the first half’s final 59 seconds. Edwards threw to Brannon Hampton in the middle of the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown pass with three seconds remaining in the half for a 23-10 halftime lead.
Williams, an All-County defensive lineman who has offers from many colleges including Georgia, Notre Dame and USC, scored on his 18-yard touchdown run on which he displayed considerable acceleration and unexpected cuts for a player his size, to make it 30-10. Sloan scored on a 7-yard run for San Clemente with 1:39 left in the game.
Tustin plays Foothill on Friday at Tustin High in their annual neighborhood rivalry game.
San Clemente is home next Friday against Riverton of Utah.
San Clemente 6-6 and third in the four-team Alpha League with a 2-3 league record. The Tritons beat La Verne Damien 42-7 in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs before losing to eventual division champion Newbury Park 24-14 in the second round.
Tustin was 9-2 and went 5-0 in the Delta League. The Tillers lost to Los Angeles Loyola in the first round of the Division 3 playoffs.