Bonita Counters with Too Little Too Late in 43-22 Loss to Santa Fe

Bonita's Casey Horine on a long gallop that ended just shy of the endzone. It was one of the game's key moments because after Bonita failed to score twice from the Chiefs' one-yard line, Santa Fe scored two plays later to put the game out of reach.

If the football game between Bonita and Santa Fe at Glenn Davis Stadium on Friday night were a boxing match, Santa Fe would have been ruled the winner of all four rounds, but despite the 43-22 outcome, the Chiefs never got the knockout. Bonita kept counterpunching effectively and showing the resilience that could serve it well once league play starts.

There was no question that Santa Fe was the more polished performer led by quarterback Alex Flores. In the first half, Santa Fe rushed for 70 yards with William Borner leading the way with two touchdowns. Through the air, Flores hit receivers Andrew Jackson and Cameron Oliver with scoring strikes.

However, setting up for a field goal right before the end of the first half, after Casey Horine had already blocked two extra points, the Chiefs couldn’t keep a determined Daniel Harriman from blocking the kick that was scooped up by Bonita’s Derrick McCanless and returned 79-yards for a touchdown to make the score 28-9 at the half.

In the third quarter, it was Flores again, this time using his feet, scoring on a 15-yard scramble that capped an 82-yard drive. After the Chief’s two-point conversion, making the score 36-9, it appeared the Bearcats had been declawed once and for all.

Then after Bonita turned the ball over on downs, the Chiefs went back to work from their own 24-yard-line. On the march again after collecting two first downs, the Chiefs tried a lateral pass that was dropped. After the ball tumbled to the artificial turf, all the players on both sides temporarily froze as if the play had been signaled dead. Everyone except  Bonita’s Cody McKenzie who alertly picked up the dropped pass and raced 52-yards untouched into the endzone, making the score 36-15.

Bonita never had answers for Santa Fe’s balanced big-play attack. The Chiefs didn’t punt until there was 10:34 remaining in the fourth quarter. Yet the Bearcats kept hanging around. Quarterback Greg Spathias and Casey Horine connected on a long pass taking the ball all the way to Chiefs’ four-yard-line. On fourth and goal from the one-yard line, Spathias was sacked ending Bonita’s threat.

On the next play, Santa Fe’s Borner raced 91 yards down the left sideline before William Molloy dragged him down three yards shy of the goal line. Borner punched it in for a touchdown on the next play, but again Bonita wasn’t done.

From Bonita’s 43-yard-line, Kenneth Calvin blasted 57 yards down the left side to find pay dirt, leaving a wake of would-be tacklers grasping air. After the extra point, Bonita trailed 43-22.

Although outmatched by a veteran team whose roster sported 40 seniors, Bonita kept counterpunching to the end. Clearly, Bonita Head Coach Eric Podley had higher hopes for his young team, but there won’t be any white towel being thrown in from his corner.

“We made some heads-up plays at times,” said a disappointed Podley. “Our No. 1 enemy is still us. “Until we believe in ourselves and believe in each other, we are not going to be a good team.

“We’re still making too many mistakes. We practice taking snaps for hours and hours and hours at a time, and you drop two on the one-yard line. You have receivers wide open, and you throw interceptions.

“We’re just not very good right now; we have to keep practicing to get better. I think we have the talent and the ability to be a good team. We’ve got the size, we’ve got the speed. We’ve got what it takes to be a good team, but it’s not happening right now.

“There’s no magic pill, we just have to keep working.”

So Bonita will be back in the practice ring on Monday, sparring and looking for a way to play 48 solid minutes and realize the promise and potential that Podley believes his team has.

Bonita goes on the road next week against Baldwin Park.

Bonita quarterback Greg Spathias prepares to hand the ball off to Kenneth Calvin, who would unleash a 57-touchdown run down the left sideline against Santa Fe.