Tustin terrific in blowout of Canyon

TUSTIN - Myron Miller said that he wasn't sure if he would ever get another shot to  coach in a CIF final.

Next week, he will have that opportunity, thanks to an offensive  show from his Tustin Tillers.

Tustin  scored on its first nine possessions en route to a 63-28 home victory over  Canyon Friday night in a CIF-SS Southwest Division semifinal.

The Tillers (9-4) will face either La Habra or Trabuco Hills in the division  final next Saturday at Angel Stadium at 2 p.m. The second-seeded Highlanders  will play host to the Mustangs tonight at 7 p.m. in the other semifinal.

This will be Tustin's  first trip to a CIF final since 1997, when it was defeated by Santa Margarita,  55-42 in the Division V final.

Canyon ends its season at 8-5.

"I got outcoached by Terry Henigan one year, and I made a bad  call against Los Alamitos another year and I thought that maybe I had blown my  only chance of ever getting back to the finals," Miller said. "But, the kids  got me there again.

"I always tell the guys that I can't drive them to the  championship. They'll carry me if we get there … I'm just happy they got me  there."

It was the fifth time this season that the Tillers have scored at  least 60 points. In its first three playoff games, the Tillers have scored 188  points.

"We've been doing that all year," Miller said. "We've been  playing good offense. We have some good kids that battle on every down and  that's how you keep this thing going."

Tustin  was unable to put Canyon away as the teams traded touchdowns in the third  quarter. Tustin  took a 42-28 lead into the fourth quarter.

"I thought we could score 28-35 points on them, and I thought we  could put up a lot of yards," Canyon coach Brent McKee said. "But, we had to  have some (defensive) stops and get some turnovers, and we didn't get them.

"The one sliver of hope we had was when it was 42-28 and that  onside kick just sat there on the ground, and once they got it, they smelled  blood and finished us."

Tustin  opened the fourth quarter with a 56-yard touchdown pass from Taylor Richardson to Ameer Webb. The Tillers then added touchdown runs from Wilkerson and Webb to  put the game away.

"This is a big win," Richardson  said. "Coach told us, that they couldn't stop us the last time, so if we did  the same thing, then we're not going to have any problems. … the game plan  worked pretty well.

It was Tustin's  second victory this season over Canyon. The Tillers won the regular season  meeting, 42-13, Oct. 24.

The Tillers rushed for 398 yards, led by Anthony Wilkerson's 170  yards to push him the 2,000-yard mark for the season. He scored on runs of 41,  4, 33 and 1.

"If they don't turn the ball over, I don't know who's going to  beat them," McKee said. "I don't fault our kids, our kids played hard, but you  saw that there was a speed difference with there offense to our defense.

"We played great defense all year, except against them."

The game started inauspiciously for the Comanches as quarterback  Nick Mercurio's second pass of the night was intercepted to give Tustin the ball at the  11.

Mercurio completed 18 of 31 passes for 249 yards, but he was  intercepted three times. He also threw two touchdown passes.

Colton Grandbouche had 10 receptions for 141 yards for Canyon.

Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com