March 28, 2024

OC Sports Zone: Community First

Foothill bounces back with 30-6 victory over Beckman

Roman Pistone had a big night for the Knights against Beckman.

The Foothill High football team bounced back from two tough losses with a dominating 30-6 win over Beckman on Friday night at Tustin High.

Foothill took control from the start, scoring on its first trip down the field and never looked back in its first win of the season.

The Knights had dropped their first two games , but both were close.

They were ready for a win on Friday.

Dynamic sophomore running back Roman Pistone scored the team’s first three touchdowns.

“A healthy Roman Pistone was the difference to start,” Foothill coach Doug Case said. “He got injured in the game against Tustin (where he had 191 yards rushing) and has had most of the last week off. He came back on Wednesday this week and was ready. He was explosive again. He really showed that tonight. It was nice to have that running attack along with our passing attack and the defense played phenomenal.”

Pistone had three touchdowns on the night, including one rushing on the Knights’ first possession.

“We like what we saw with what we were doing up front and we cut Pistone lose,” Case said.

Foothill was off and running from there.

Beckman made it a 7-3 game on a 32-yard field goal by Jamar Coleman with 8:50 left in the first quarter.

The big play on the drive for Beckman came on a 35-yard completion from Jason Cheng to Dylan Somoza.

But Foothill answered and in a hurry.

An 11-play drive ended in a 17-yard run up the middle for a touchdown by Pistone.

After a quick interception by Gabe Gallardo, who also had a big night for Foothill, Pistone was at it again.

He went up the middle again for a 35-yard score to help give Foothill a 21-3 lead with 3:45 left in the first half.

Foothill’s defense did the rest, limiting Beckman’s offense most of the night.

Nicholas Fierro also had an interception and Dylan Ventress, Zack Yourstone, Johnny Bustamente and Jack Holcomb were in the backfield consistently.

Holcomb even had a tackle in the end zone for a safety early in the fourth quarter to make it 30-3.

And senior quarterback JD Curran showed a nice touch with a 42-yard touchdown pass to Zack Goral for Foothill’s fourth touchdown of the night.

“We have played some tough teams and we will play some tough teams going forward,” Case said. “It is all about getting us better week in and week out. The kids needed some success and we will build on this. I like what I saw from the defense and the offense. We are young, but we are maturing every week. We are going to be there at the end I think. We are going to keep getting better.”

Curran, the Foothill quarterback, said it was the offensive line that set the tone on the night. He gave credit to Geoffry Lindgren, Dan Olsen, Mikey D’avirro, Ethan Delariva and Evan Cooper.

“They did well tonight and stepped up,” he said.”Everything came together. Roman was good and our offensive line did a tremendous job creating holes for him and protecting me. And the defense was solid. It was a good way to bounce back. This was a great win for our team to build on.”

STATS

Beckman 0  3  0  3   6

Foothill    7 14  7 2  30

-Brent Shaver, For OC Sports Zone