Tustin’s Foster Saved His Best for Last

TUSTIN —  It had already been a great season for Tustin High running back DeShaun Foster, who became only the second Southern Section player (and first from Orange County) to rush for more than 3,000 yards in a single season.

But there was still one game left. It was the biggest game, the Division V final against unbeaten and defending champion Santa Margarita.

The same Santa Margarita team that held Foster to 26 yards (in 14 carries) in last year’s 31-0 division semifinal victory. A team whose defense in 1997 had given up 996 total yards and 126 points in 13 previous games.

Santa Margarita won the title game, 55-42. But there was no stopping Foster, who rushed for 378 yards and six touchdowns in 31 carries. He also started at cornerback.

“I think [the game] answered any remaining questions about me,” Foster said. “I still think there are some people who don’t have respect for Tustin and the double-wing formation we like to use; that we are a gimmick team.

“But after the second touchdown against Santa Margarita, I think I had their respect. You could see they felt they had to outscore us to win.”

Foster’s effort all but cinched The Times’ Glenn Davis Award, given to the top prep football player in Southern California.

The award is given in honor of the 1946 Heisman Trophy winner, who attended Bonita High in La Verne and West Point.

In leading 13-1 Tustin to its first Golden West League football championship and the Southern Section Division V final, Foster, 17, finished with 3,398 yards in 323 carries, an average of 10.5 yards.

David Dotson of Moreno Valley Valley View rushed for 3,523 yards in 1991.

Foster scored 362 points, easily bettering Dotson’s section-record 282. And Dotson’s single-season rushing touchdowns record of 46 was blown away by Foster’s 54.

Foster, who also caught three passes for touchdowns and returned a pair of pass interceptions for another two scores, finished with 59 touchdowns.

Foster, who was also his league’s MVP and The Times Orange County back of the year, is the 11th recipient of the Glenn Davis Award and the fourth Orange County player to be selected. The last was Esperanza’s Travis Kirschke in 1992.

“It does feel special,” Foster said of his season. “But what I will remember most of all is my teammates. How together we all were, starting last summer when we were getting ready for the season. We had great camaraderie. They know they did something to help me do it.”

In 14 games Foster rushed for 300 or more yards three times, and 200 or more yards seven times. His lowest single-game total was 136 yards against Westminster.

The outburst against Santa Margarita was his biggest single-game total on the season.

Santa Margarita Coach Jim Hartigan called Foster’s performance “phenomenal,” saying none of the Eagles’ defenses designed to contain Foster worked.

“Our kids knew he was legitimate,” Hartigan said. “We’re honest with them; if we think a team is beatable or a key player is shaky we tell them. We told the kids DeShaun was a good back, and had a big picture of him in the team locker room. ‘Stop DeShaun and you stop Tustin,’ we told them.

“I figured he’d pop at least three touchdowns even if we played very well because he is so dangerous. But he’s so hard to prepare for. You’d have to have a college type back to simulate what he does. And that running style of his--upright like Eric Dickerson and Johnny Rodgers, the strong upper body and the great stiff arm. You have to decide whether to run him over, which is foolish, or surround him with have multiple defenders. But he also has great vision, and can tell if you over pursue or under pursue. Not many high school backs have that.”

As outstanding as Foster’s performance against Santa Margarita was, Tustin Coach Myron Miller did not consider that effort as the defining moment of his season.

Miller, who said Foster “is the best running back I’ve seen in 30 years of coaching,” instead cited Tustin’s victory against Servite. The Friars had never lost a Golden West League game since the league was formed four years ago, a streak of 18 games.

“We were down early in the first half with a third and goal from the 13,” Miller said. “I’m scratching my head trying to figure a play, and I look at DeShaun, who points to himself. He got the ball, got hit on the five by four guys, put his hand on the ground to keep his balance and goes into end zone. Then he ran in a two-point conversion.”

“We’re still down 21-15 when, on the first play of the second half, he runs 65 yards for the touchdown. I knew then no one would stop him the rest of the season.”

Foster, who carries a 4.0 grade-point average, has narrowed his college choices to UCLA, Nebraska, Washington and Oregon.

“I want to graduate in four years,” Foster said. “I want to be thought of as more than just a jock. It wouldn’t bother me if I made the NFL, but you can’t set your hopes on that. You have to have something to fall back on.”

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A Prolific Season

The game-by-game 1997 rushing record of Tustin’s DeShaun Foster, who set the county record for most yards gained in a season:

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Opponent Att Yds TDs Foothill 20 214 3 Palm Springs 22 188 4 El Modena 17 314 4 Huntington Beach 44 328 5 Canyon 18 199 4 Santa Ana 15 225 4 Saddleback 27 201 5 Ocean View 18 287 3 Servite 23 263 4 Westminster 15 136 3 Valencia 21 247 5 Foothill 27 271 3 Brea Olinda 30 147 1 Santa Margarita 32 378 6 Totals 329 3,398 54

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NOTE: Foster’s total of 59 touchdowns scored by all methods set a Southern Section record.