Hillman, La Habra run off with Southwest title

ANAHEIM - Frank Mazzotta said he is lucky to have Ronnie Hillman on his team.

In the CIF-SS Southwest Division championship game at Angel Stadium on Saturday afternoon, Hillman showed how dangerous he can be. He scored a pair of second-half touchdowns to lead the Highlanders to a 26-14 victory over Tustin in front of 7,706.

The victory gave La Habra (12-2) its second consecutive CIF title and fourth under Mazzotta.
La Habra defeated Fullerton in last year’s CIF Southeast Division final.

“I always say that any time Ronnie Hillman gets the ball, he could score,” Mazzotta said. “Every play he touches the ball could be a touchdown.”

Hillman’s first touchdown, a 54-yard run with 1:56 left in the third quarter, snapped a 14-14 tie.

It came after Tustin’s Anthony Wilkerson fumbled at the La Habra 15. Dominic Sierra forced the fumble, which was recovered by Anthony Sandoval on the 8.

On the third play of the ensuing drive, Hillman took over. He wove his way through the Tustin defense, punctuating the run with a juke-and-go move on Wilkerson at about the 20.

“I wanted to break it (the run) loose and get the energy going,” Hillman said. “We noticed that they (Tustin) were getting tired and I knew that if I could break one, we could win the game.”

After Tustin’s offense failed to sustain another drive, leading to a turnover on downs, Hillman put the game away.

He took a pitch from quarterback Randall Nygren on a third-and-5 from the Tustin 43, went around right end and raced untouched to the end zone.

“He’s a special kid,” Mazzotta said of Hillman. “All he needs is a crack (in the defense) and he’s able to go.”

Hillman also had a touchdown reception of 16 yards in the first half. He finished with 106 rushing yards. La Habra rushed for 277 yards.

La Habra was faced with the daunting task of having to slow Tustin’s double wing-T offense that entered the final averaging 62.6 points a game in the playoffs. Wilkerson rushed for 204 yards on 37 carriers, but no other Tustin ballcarrier rushed for more than 40 yards.

“The defensive kids are just tough. They just hung in there and kept pounding and pounding,” Mazzotta said. “We knew the longer it took them to score the more time would be off the clock.

“They didn’t have many kids, so they’d be more tired and worn down. All those things happened that we thought might happen.”

La Habra’s defensive effort was led by defensive back David Arteaga’s 23 tackles. Will and Jake Peppard hand nine tackles apiece.

“We got beat by a better team,” Tustin coach Myron Miller said. “We played as good as could, but that was a better football team than us. They deserved to win the game and I can live with that.

Miller added: “Number four (Ronnie Hillman) made the two big plays. He doesn’t touch the ball very often, but when he does, he’s lightning.”

Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com