PREP FOOTBALL / CENTURY LEAGUE : Sveslosky Leads Foothill to Victory Over Orange

When you perform in the shadow of one of the county’s top running backs, you don’t always figure on playing a major role in your team’s success.

Thursday night, Nick Sveslosky again disproved that theory.

The senior running back/receiver/defensive back/kick returner, who shares the Foothill backfield with Tramel Robinson, scored four touchdowns at El Modena High to help Foothill outlast Orange, 42-35, in a Century League game in front of about 800.

Robinson gained 189 yards in 25 carries on some adept running, to increase his total to 1,002 yards. He scored on a 48-yard run that staked Foothill (5-3, 2-1 in league) to a three-touchdown lead with 8:36 to go.

Sveslosky did it the hard way, taking two short passes from quarterback Tyler Lang and turning them into touchdowns of 53 and 70 yards. He also scored on runs of one and 13 yards and made some nice kick returns for good measure.

“It was nice to see them complement each other,” Foothill Coach Tom Meiss said about Robinson and Sveslosky. “They are a nice 1-2 punch.”

The 70-yard catch-and-run for a score was typical Sveslosky. He took a short pass from Lang along the Orange sideline at the 50-yard line, put his head down and ran right over defensive back Pablo Hermoso at the Orange 48. He was all alone after that.

“I was just trying hard and letting the line make the blocks,” said Sveslosky, who finished with 247 all-purpose yards.

Foothill needed all of the effort mustered by Robinson and Sveslosky to hold off Orange (4-4, 1-2).

The Knights, who once trailed, 14-7, were still ahead by 21 points with six minutes to go. Then things got a little sloppy.

Orange quarterback Shawn McCraw rallied the Panthers by running three yards for one touchdown, then threw 39 yards for another following an onside kick by Orange.

In fact, this one wasn’t over until Travis Freeman intercepted a deflected McCraw pass intended for Carlos Heard with less than a minute to play.

“We had a bad third quarter,” Orange Coach Dick Hill said. “They got to us a little bit and by the time we came back, it was too late. But our kids didn’t give up.”