TUSTIN — Tim Ioane knows how quickly the tide can turn in a football game.
That’s why the senior linebacker for Tustin enjoyed every minute of the 44-0 victory over rival Foothill on Friday night.
“We feel like we have the best defense in the county right now,” Ioane said. “I don’t think anyone can mess with us.”
Ioane began last season by intercepting a screen pass in the first game against El Toro, the same type of play he had made a year earlier against Crean Lutheran, turning that into a 45-yard interception return in the 21-0 victory.
Only this time, Ioane’s right knee buckled the instant he landed and his ACL snapped, ending his season.
After a year away from the game, Ioane is relishing every opportunity to run on the field.
“It feels good to be back out here, definitely does,” he said. “I put a lot of work in this offseason. It wasn’t easy, but got it done.”
Ioane has moved inside this season and has become the lynchpin in a run defense that limited the Knights to minus-2 yards rushing.
“It’s big,” Tustin defensive lineman Jeremiah Williams said of having Ioane back this season. “He’s really like the run-stop filler we’ve been needing for a while. Everybody’s been hurt, injured or missing five games (because of the transfer rule), so he was an important piece that we needed for a while.”
Foothill (0-2) had a golden opportunity to squash the shutout late in the third quarter after Lukas Reinberger intercepted a pass and the Knights took over at the Tustin 7-yard line. Foothill reached the 2-yard line on the first play and faced 4th-and-goal from inside the 1, but the Tillers stuffed Foothill quarterback Jake Lind on a sneak.
“We’re a run-stop heavy team, so when they try to do their little tush push, I was going to line up on their center and knock him back,” Williams said. “It was a very big part of the game.”
The Tillers (2-0) then marched down the field and extended the lead to 37-0 on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Ayden Edwards to running back Elijah Robinson with 18 seconds left in the third quarter, generating a running game clock in the fourth.
Edwards, a junior, finished 20-for-26 for 247 yards and two touchdowns.
“We had to open it up a little bit and see if he could get in some rhythm,” Tustin coach Anthony Lopez said of Edwards.
Jeremiah Salvant, another junior, made two big plays for the Tillers, returning a punt 71 yards for a touchdown early in the second quarter to help his team to a 16-0 lead.
He then caught a 38-yard touchdown pass with 17 seconds left in the first half to extend the lead to 23-0.
Salvant also scored on a kickoff return in a 30-17 win against San Clemente last week.
“The kid’s a freak athlete,” Lopez said. “He’s phenomenal.
The Tillers will have a short window to enjoy the victory, as they’re scheduled to visit perennial powerhouse Long Beach Poly next Friday.
“We’ve been waiting for that one,” Ioane said. “We’ve had that one marked on our calendars, for sure.”