Diego Fraembs helps Bloomington football team rally past Fontana – Press Enterprise

BLOOMINGTON — It was a slow start for the Bloomington football team, but the Bruins finished stronger and defeated Fontana 44-36 in a Skyline League game..

So slow a start that by the end of the first quarter the Bruins were trailing 20-6.

It was then the legs of tailback Diego Fraembs and quarterback Cesar Villegas that helped Bloomington never look back to secure its first league win of the season. Fraembs scored on runs of 42 and 8 yards in the second quarter to help Bloomington (6-1 overall, 1-1 in league) cut the deficit to 20-18.

“I think we were rolling over from our loss last week in why we had such a slow start,” Bloomington coach Rick Salazar said. “I didn’t like it and we were giving them the game. I knew we could do that much better. Behind Fraembs and the big pick from (Andrew) Padron is what sparked us back into victory.

Padron was the spark the Bruins needed defensively, as he intercepted a tipped ball for a return of 37 yards, 5 yards shy of the end zone. Following the interception, Villegas ran up the middle and helped the Bloomington take a 24-20 lead into halftime. The Bruins never trailed again.

Fraembs then welcomed the third quarter by bursting down the Fontana sideline for a 32-yard score, his fourth touchdown of the night.

“We are so special. We should be 7-0 but learned from out mistakes last week and I’m glad we got our first league win tonight to help us with the ultimate goal,” Fraembs said. “One step at a time and a big step is to make playoffs.”

Fraembs finished with 150 yards on the ground and also had a interception on the goal line to end the first half.

Villegas’ third rushing touchdown of the night was the sealer the Bruins needed late in the game.

Fontana had signs of heads-up plays including a kickoff recovery in which no Bloomington player touched the ball. The Steelers (3-4, 1-1) even scored their final touchdown with 48 seconds left in the game.

Fontana’s Rashawn Williams rushed for 115 yards with a pair of touchdowns despite missing most of the second quarter with what appeared to be an ankle injury.

Bloomington hasn’t seen much success the past two decades, but the Bruins are off to their best start since 1999.

“I’m a ’94 kid. We knew what winning was,” said Salazar, who is a Bloomington graduate and former Bruins football player. “I’m glad these group of kids have brought back the winning culture back to Bloomington. The kids, school, and city deserve this.”.