Foothill Gets First Victory of the Season

Foothill Coach Tom Meiss, never at a loss for words, summed up his club’s first victory this way: “Thank God for Tramel Robinson.”

Robinson caught a screen pass from Kevin Daft and raced 48 yards for the winning touchdown with 5:08 remaining to give Foothill a 25-22 nonleague victory over Brea-Olinda Friday night at Tustin High.

The victory ended a three-game losing streak for the Knights (1-3), whose offense had been nonexistent in their three previous outings.

Robinson’s score rallied Foothill, which finished with 364 yards total offense, from a four-point deficit after it had led for the majority of the game.

Brea (2-2), which trailed by 15 points early on, took a 22-18 lead with 8:44 remaining when quarterback Paul Chiotti hit Chris Beamer with a 25-yard touchdown pass.

Daft hit Robinson, who scored twice, on third-and-12 and he shook two Brea defenders and scooted down the sideline for the victory.

Foothill also got a big lift from running back Paul King, who ran for a career-high 110 yards and a touchdown in eight carries and caught two passes for 48 yards.

“I’ve always said if you don’t win the crowd will start coming just see the band,” Meiss said. “This took a lot of pressure off us.”

The Knights jumped to a 15-0 lead in the first half on a four-yard touchdown run by Robinson and a 34-yarder by King with 11:23 remaining in the second quarter.

Brea cut the gap after Chad Buonauro blocked a punt by Foothill’s Steve Patterson, setting up Chiotti’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Chris Beamer five plays later with 3:18 remaining in the half.

Foothill got a 20-yard field goal from Cody Clemmons to increase its lead to 11 points, 18-7, before Beamer, who finished with three touchdowns, caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Chiotti with 2:18 left in the third quarter. Beamer gave Brea the lead with a five-yard touchdown run in the fourth before Robinson scored the game-winner.