PHOTOS: Crean Lutheran stays undefeated with victory in final seconds over Tustin

Justin Dominguez of Crean Lutheran goes for yards against Tustin Friday night. (Photo courtesy Ted Rigoni/Crean Lutheran Shutterbugs).

Crean Lutheran and Tustin football teams battled to the final seconds in an Empire League Friday night but the visiting Saints were able to rally for a thrilling 29-28 victory to remain undefeated in the league.

Crean Lutheran and Cypress are both 9-0 overall and 4-0 in league going into next Thursday’s league showdown at Crean Lutheran. Both teams have already qualified for the CIF playoffs.

“It was an amazing game for the Saints as the boys showed true grit in the victory, coming back from several deficits to put together a miracle drive to win the game,” Crean Lutheran Coach Rick Curtis said Saturday.

“Last night’s game marked the first time all year that we trailed in a game and our resiliency and ability to overcome adversity really showed up.” 

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Tustin, which had won its last two league games, was able to run the ball behind its large offensive line.

“Their rushing attack was difficult to stop and the Tillers were able to control the clock for a lot of the contest,” Curtis said. “The victory was a total team effort with multiple players stepping up and fulfilling their roles. 

“The offensive line of Graham Austin, Aiden Bisbee, Jesse Fluegge, Kyler Petronis, Kellen Cosenza, and Cristian Viola propelled us to victory by opening up gaping holes for our running backs and in protecting our quarterback, Gavin Rogers.”

Crean Lutheran’s offense was led by Justin Dominguez, who had 77 yards on 11 carries and was the “spark that the Saints needed after halftime,” Curtis said.

Dominguez rushed four consecutive times for 48 yards to open up the second half as the Saints marched down the field. The drive culminated witha 5-yard run off the wildcat formatin by Andrew Duberow, who had seven carries for 25 yards.

Rogers, the Saints senior quarterback, had another big night, completing 21 of 30 for 246 yards and two touchdowns.

After Tustin went up 28-21 with 2:09 to play, Rogers hit Jake Ramirez (six receptions, 48 yards) for a key first down on a fourth and two play, allowing the Saints to cross midfield. 

Rogers also found Ben Buettel (three receptions, 71 yards, one touchdown) over the middle for another key first down, putting the Saints in striking distance with under 30 seconds to play.

Rogers finished off the scoring drive with two seconds left on the clock by scrambling and hitting Ty Benefield in the back of the end zone for a score.

The Saints elected to go for the win on a two- point play instead of forcing overtime with a PAT kick.  Benefield found Rogers wide open in the end zone on a trick play to lift the Saints to the win.

Benefield wound up with 10 receptions for 124 yards and one touchdown.

Crean Lutheran was led defensively by Ben Byszewski, Benefield, Fluegge, Viola, Carter Jones, and Mason McCullough.

Byszewsky had a big interception near the end of the first half and was in on several key tackles throughout the night. Benefield (10 tackles), Carter Jones (nine tackles) and McCullough (nine tackles) led in tackles, while Viola and Fluegge had excellent games on the defensive line, Curtis added.

Placekicker Connor Stephens hit on all of his four PAT kicks, which turned out to be crucial and averaged 39 yards on his two punts during the night. 

“I would also like to give credit to my offensive coordinator, Russ Oka, and defensive coordinator, John Byszewski and my entire coaching staff,” Curtis said. “These men have kept the kids engaged and have been instrumental to our success this season. It has been a total staff effort to get us to the point of challenging for the Empire League championship. “

Curtis said the Saints were also inspired by a large following of fans including students from the Blue Zone.

“It was great,” he said. “It felt as close to a home game as you could get and the celebration afterwards was awesome,” Curtis said.

Tustin (2-7, 2-2) hosts Pacifica on Friday in the league finale.