TUSTIN — The Tustin football team capped its perfect regular season Friday with a 49-17 win over Cypress to win the outright Empire League championship at Tustin High.
Tustin (10-0, 5-0) finished the regular season undefeated for the first time since 2012.
The Tillers clinched their first Empire League championship since the 2021 spring season, which was shortened due to the pandemic. That season they shared the league championship with Cypress and Pacifica.
This is Tustin’s first outright league title since 2012.
“The kids have bought into what we were selling and my coaching staff has been phenomenal,” Tustin coach Anthony Lopez said. “I love these guys and I’m really proud of the whole group.”
Friday was the first time Tustin defeated Cypress (6-4, 4-1) since 2017, snapping a five-game losing streak.
Eimesse Essis ran for 139 yards on 17 carries with two touchdowns for the Tillers.
Tustin quarterback Jack Stupin threw for 162 yards with three touchdown passes. MacKenzie Alleyne had two long touchdowns, an 80-yard run and an 86-yard kickoff return.
The Tillers jumped on Cypress by scoring 21 unanswered points in the first 13 minutes of the game. Stupin threw two touchdown passes to Kaden Carter, from 19 and 24 yards, to give Tustin a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
Essis ran untouched for a 39-yard touchdown on the second play of the second quarter to give the Tillers a 21-0 lead.
Cypress kicker Logan Kennedy made a 42-yard field goal to cut Tustin’s lead to 21-3 at halftime.
After an interception on the first play of the second half by William Leapart III, Stupin threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Marques Guzman to extend the lead to 28-3.
Cypress running back Rocco Burdett ran for two touchdowns in the second half.
Alleyne had both of his long touchdowns on the plays immediately after the Burdett touchdowns to keep Cypress at arm’s length.
“The kid is amazing and he needs to end up playing in college somewhere,” Lopez said of Alleyne. “The way he swings momentum into our favor is huge.”
Essis ran for a 10-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter for the Tillers.
Aidan Houston led Cypress in rushing with 76 yards on 17 attempts and threw for 80 yards.
Tustin’s defense had five sacks. Alex Hage had two sacks while Annas Davis, Guzman and Carter each added one.
Bruno Caldarella had a sack and a tipped pass to lead the Cypress defense. Tyler White and Matthew Fonseca had a sack for Cypress.
Cypress qualified for the playoffs as the second-place representative from the league. The Centurions reached the Division 4 championship game last season and fell to Downey.
Tustin has reached the playoffs for the ninth consecutive season.
The Tillers fell to Muir in the first round of the Division 10 playoffs last season and is expected to be in Division 3 this season. The CIF-SS pairings will be announced Sunday morning.
“We just have to keep practicing hard and trusting the process,” Lopez said. “We always preach that it’s not who we play, it’s how we play. We’ll let the chips fall where they may on Sunday and come out swinging next week.”
