TUSTIN — Tustin’s football team continued its unblemished start to the season with a 47-37 victory over El Dorado Thursday night at Tustin High, but the postgame mood wasn’t as jubilant as might be expected.

Tillers coach Anthony Lopez sees plenty of room for improvement despite the team’s 3-0 record.

“We have a lot to fix,” Lopez said. “We gave up a lot of points defensively. Offensively we had some really big plays, those explosive plays kept us in it, but there were times when we were sputtering and going backwards.”

Tustin’s explosiveness was on full display as it had three touchdowns over 75 yards. There was the 82-yard catch by Larry Allen, and an 85-yard kickoff return and a 77-yard reception, both by Mackenzie Alleyne.

El Dorado (1-2) responded nearly every time to Tustin’s big plays.

It erased an early 13-0 deficit to take a 14-13 lead.

Early in the second quarter, Golden Hawks QB Nate Bento found Xavier Cadena on an 11-yard hookup for a TD, then El Dorado took advantage of Tustin’s miscommunication on the ensuing kickoff and recovered the ball to regain possession.

Bento hit tight end Nathan Meek for an 18-yard TD on the next play.

“Nate is a stud, started for us last season and had a great season,” El Dorado coach Zack La Monda said. “Forget a football game, I’ll go into a street fight with him, he’s a warrior.”

Bento finished with 306 yards passing and five touchdowns.

The Tillers retook the lead in the second quarter on Jack Stupin’s long pass to Allen and a 3-yard score from Alleyne.

The Golden Hawks responded with a 40-yard TD pass from Bento to Cadena, their second connection of then night, to make it 25-21

Alleyne returned the second-half kickoff for a touchdown to make it 33-21.

El Dorado entered the fourth quarter trailing by just two points, 33-31, after a 43-yard field goal by Devin Coleman and a 61-yard touchdown catch on the final play of the third by Vincent Tapia.

Tustin seized back the momentum on the first play of the fourth when Stupin connected with Alleyne for a 77-yard TD reception and a 22-yard scoring pass from Stupin to Essis that made it 47-31 midway through the fourth quarter.

Stupin passed for 247 yards and three touchdowns, Alleyne finished with three touchdowns and Eimesse Essis ran for 121 yards and had a pair of scores.

“He’s great,” Lopez said of Essis. “He didn’t have his best game in terms of vision but he’s had two really solid games and then this one, he wasn’t the best but he still finds a way to work, he’s a great running back.”

La Monda hopes this tough nonleague schedule helps prepare his team for league and the postseason in the long run.

“Even though the score doesn’t reflect it, I think we got better, we battled to the very end and we had opportunities,” La Monda said.

Related Articles