Fullerton’s Offense Stalls to Open Season

FULLERTON — When it came time to decide whom to feature on the cover of the football program, the Fullerton media department made the right choice in picking the defense.

The unit was outstanding but it was the lack of offense that did in Fullerton in a 17-10 loss to visiting Mt. San Antonio on Saturday at Cal State Fullerton.

“To say we need to improve on offense would be the understatement of the year,” Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy said.

The Hornets managed five first downs, converted one of 11 third-down situations and had 107 yards total offense.

The defense set up Fullerton’s only touchdown when end Chuck Pine caused a fumble and recovered it at the Mt. San Antonio two.

Chuck Farris then went up the middle for a two-yard touchdown with three seconds left in the third quarter to cut the Mt. San Antonio lead to 14-10.

But Fullerton was never really close to scoring again. Farris led Fullerton in rushing with 38 yards but 34 of those yards came in one carry that set up a second-quarter field goal.

Fullerton started sophomore Geoff Berg at quarterback and he split time with freshman Terry Hess. Berg was seven of 17 for 29 yards and Hess was three of 13 for 47. One Berg pass was intercepted and two Hess passes were picked off.

Jerry Wolak had the interceptions against Berg.

“Berg is sophomore so there is some loyalty there,” Murphy said. “But good common sense says you have to play both if they are equal and they are. I guess we’ll just go with the hot hand.”

Mt. San Antonio scored on its first possession but the Fullerton defense stiffened after that. Mt. San Antonio had the ball inside the Fullerton 20 three times and failed to score.

Linebacker Matt Frembling led the Fullerton defense with with 12 tackles. Pine and linebacker Trevor Ray each had seven tackles and linebacker Donnie Gunritz had two of Fullerton’s six sacks.

Fullerton takes on Long Beach at Cal State Fullerton at 7 p.m. Saturday.

In other Mission Conference games:

Cerritos 40, Orange Coast 0--Matt Sorensen completed 12 of 22 passes for 251 yards and two touchdowns as fourth-ranked Cerritos (1-0) defeated Orange Coast. The Pirates (0-1), including the end of last season, have lost nine consecutive games.

Long Beach 40, Golden West 10--Marina High graduate Michael Williams rushed for 180 yards and tied a school record with four rushing touchdowns as Long Beach (1-0) defeated Golden West (0-1) in the Mission Conference opener.

Williams scored on runs of 29, 15, 10 and two yards.