Not a Seat Left at Eisenhower : High school football: It’s all but impossible to get a ticket for today’s game against Fontana.

The toughest sports ticket to buy in the Southland this weekend is not for the Lakers, Clippers, Kings, Rams or USC.

Instead, it will be for the football showdown today at Rialto between Fontana and Rialto Eisenhower high schools, each 8-0 and battling for the state’s top ranking.

Fontana and Rialto are neighboring communities in San Bernardino County, 50 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

The game is receiving so much attention that Roger Reupert, Eisenhower’s athletic director, said he has been on the phone all week with people looking for tickets.

“For the record, if someone doesn’t have a ticket by now, they shouldn’t even bother coming out to the game,” he said. “We don’t have any left to sell.”

The game, for the Southern Section’s Citrus Belt League title, was moved from Friday night to this afternoon at Eisenhower so the Rialto Police Dept. could provide better security. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.

An extra 1,000 seats have been installed for the game, raising the capacity to 8,000. Eisenhower was allotted 3,500 tickets and Fontana 2,500. The 2,000 other seats will be used by those with special faculty and media passes.

Fontana officials allowed each student to buy one ticket, and put the rest on sale Wednesday morning at the school ticket office. Fans started lining up at 4 a.m. at the ticket window, which opened at 9.

“When I got here at 7 a.m., there were several hundred people in line,” Dick Bruich, Fontana’s coach, said. “People have been calling me all week, asking if I can help them get a ticket. I just tell them I have nothing to do with it.”

Reupert said he discussed moving the game to a bigger facility but conversations with officials at Mt. San Antonio College, the Rose Bowl and Anaheim Stadium did not go far.

“Every place already had commitments,” he said. “Since there isn’t a big complex near us, you’re also talking about making our fans drive a long way if we move the game.”

This is the second year in a row that the teams have met with undefeated records on the line. Last season, Fontana was 9-0 and ranked No. 1 in the state by Cal-Hi Sports. Eisenhower, also 9-0, was No. 5.

More than 12,000 fans crammed into Fontana’s 8,000-seat stadium and watched as Eisenhower ended the Steelers’ 23-game winning streak with a 16-7 victory. After the game, jubilant Eisenhower fans tore down one of the goal posts.

Bruich said his school will never hold such a big game again.

“Any home game of that magnitude will be moved to a bigger facility, I guarantee it,” he said. “I don’t care how far we have to go, but we will play in a bigger place.”

Terry O’Keefe, Fontana’s athletic director, tried to accommodate as many fans as possible last year, allowing 4,000 to stand in the end zones and along the sidelines.

Eisenhower officials do not want such crowded conditions, and will allow only working members of the media, players and coaches on the sidelines.

Newspaper, television and radio reporters from virtually every major media outlet in the Southland have requested credentials for the game. Eisenhower is No. 1 in the state--and No. 1 in the nation, according to USA Today. Fontana is No. 3 in the state. The teams hold the top two spots in The Times’ Southern Section poll. Besides the league championship, top seeding in the Division I playoffs is at stake.

Reupert said college coaches and recruiters from several major programs have called to ask for tickets.

“I told them that unless they already have one, they are out of luck,” Reupert said. “I’m just not going to make any exceptions. I told them if they want to send us a blank videocassette, we’ll be glad to tape the game for them. That’s about all we can do.”

Tickets brokers in the area said they have not had a demand for the game and doubt they will try to meet any requests that may arise.

“Your best bet is to try to swindle a ticket from someone who already has one,” one broker said.

John Longville, Rialto’s mayor, said that the public-access cable channel will carry the game live to Rialto subscribers.

“We have about 12,000 homes with cable here, so at least they can enjoy the game if they can’t get a ticket,” Longville said. “Since Fontana is just next door, perhaps those without a ticket can find someone they know with cable.”

Said Tom Hoak, Eisenhower’s coach: “I just wish we could have handled more fans. I think we should have tried to accommodate at least 10,000. I hate it that people who want to watch this game won’t be able to.”

An Unbeatable Matchup RIALTO EISENHOWER (8-0)

Date Opponent Score Sept. 13 Long Beach Poly 39-0 Sept. 20 at Cajon 26-0 Sept. 27 Pasadena Muir 40-20 Oct. 4 at El Toro 20-9 Oct. 11 Las Vegas Clark 35-7 Oct. 18 at Riverside Rubidoux 32-16 Oct. 25 Riverside Poly 31-0 Nov. 1 at Redlands 47-0 Combined scores 270-52

FONTANA (8-0)

Date Opponent Score Sept. 13 Etiwanda 42-26 Sept. 20 Pasadena Muir 27-23 Sept. 27 at SF Springs St. Paul 55-13 Oct. 4 at Hunt. Beach Edison 28-26 Oct. 11 Pasadena Blair 42-7 Oct. 18 Redlands 44-0 Oct. 25 at San Gorgonio 32-0 Nov. 1 at Riverside Poly 35-7 Combined scores: 305-102