Bonita’s Heroic Last Stand Proves the Difference in 9-3 Squeaker over Baldwin Park

September 26, 2009

Share this story:

Casey Horine received medical attention for a bloody elbow before he reentered the game to block a Baldwin Park punt.

Bonita High School (1-3) withstood a furious fourth-quarter drive by the Baldwin Park Braves (3-1) to claim a hard-fought 9-3 victory Friday night.

The Braves started their drive on their own 17-yard-line and marched down to Bonita’s 4-yard-line on the strength of a couple of key connections between Braves quarterback Manny Salcedo and receiver Christian Lazaro.

That’s when the Bearcat defense stiffened and pushed back the Braves, with Bonita taking over on their own 11-yard-line to preserve the victory and run out the clock after the exchange of downs.

All night long, the Braves had no answer for No. 3 on the Bearcat defense, Casey Horine, who had two quarterback sacks, blocked two punts and registered numerous tackles, including a key stop along with safety Matt Gelalich when the Braves had the ball second and goal on the Bonita four-yard-line.

“Tonight, you saw Casey emerge as a leader on defense,” said Bonita head coach Eric Podley. “It was a breakthrough night for him. He was harassing the quarterback. What we had been lacking is a guy who will step up in a hole and take on fullback or a running back chest to chest and put him on his back, and I think we saw a Horine do that a couple of times tonight. That’s what we needed more than anything from our defense.”

After Bonita took an early 3-0 lead on a 33-yard first-quarter field goal by Evan Highley, Bonita got the ball back after Horine split the Braves defense and blocked a Baldwin Park punt, giving Bonita possession on the Braves 42-yard-line.

Bonita's Kenneth Calvin jogs on the sidelines before his No. 8 is called once again.

After a two-yard run, Kenneth Calvin burst down the left side for a 40-yard touchdown, shaking a couple of tackles before finding the end zone. Bonita missed the extra point try, which left the door open for the Braves to steal the game late.

“Deron Holmes has been our leading rusher, but he was out this week. Calvin stepped up and made some really tough plays and tough runs. On that first touchdown, he broke a big tackle and kept going.”

After regaining the ball late in the fourth quarter, Bonita collected four straight first downs with Calvin (94 total rushing yards) and Giamani Johnson (39 total rushing yards) carrying the ball. “On that last drive, Calvin made some big plays. I’m very happy with the job he did, as I am with the job Johnson did in the backfield.”

But mostly it was the Bearcat defense that had Podley and his defensive coordinator Ray Medina glowing. After giving up a Baldwin Park 34-yard field goal early in the second quarter, the Bearcats pitched a shutout the rest of the game.

The Bearcats limited Baldwin Park to just 10 yards of total offense in the third quarter.

“That was the kind of defense we needed to play,” Podley said. “They scared us in the last couple of minutes there, but when their backs were to the wall, they stepped up and fought back, and that’s what we needed desperately. We needed that kind of character to show through.”

A big part of the defense was the big leg of punter Highley, whose four punts traveled 201 yards for a 50.25 average, which helped pin back the Braves deep in their own territory several times in the game.

Defender Matt Gelalich helped shut down the Braves.

Not many local newspapers were picking the Bearcats who entered the game 0-3 and an underdog to the Braves who started the season 3-0.

“We believe we are a pretty good team,” Podley said. “We believe we can be better than what we’ve shown, and we’re going to keep hammering away at it. I think we improved a little bit tonight, but we have a long ways to go, and we have to make a lot more improvement for San Dimas.

At the start of the game, it appeared that the game might be an offensive shootout. The Bearcats rolled up nine early points and were looking for more.

“I’m not happy with the way we played on offense at all,” Podley said. “We fizzled away opportunities. We had penalties that put us in first and 15s, and we’re not good enough to make up that extra yardage at this point.

But Podley didn’t let the Bearcats offense’s struggles spoil the evening.

“Getting a victory is always a good thing,” Podley added. “There’s never anything wrong with winning, so we’ll take it at this point. But, are we ready for league? No. Are we ready for Smudge Pot? No.

Did Bonita win and possible turn around the season with its late defensive stand?

Yes.

*Bonita next goes on the road to face San Dimas on Oct. 9 at 7 p.m.

*Credit Bonita’s fine medical staff for part of the victory. It quickly patched up Casey Horine to get him back on the field just in time to block Baldwin Park’s first punt attempt. Two plays later Bonita was in the end zone.