BONITA V. DAMIEN SCRIMMAGE: BHS Players Only Human, Not Bearcats Yet

Bonita Head Coach Eric Podley addresses the Bearcats moments after the scrimmage against Damien High School.

Bonita scrimmaged Damien High School on Friday, a useful exercise to help the Bearcats gauge how far they’ve come in their pre-season practices and what they still need to fine-tune before the team’s September 3 home opener against San Dimas in the Smudge Pot.

“It was invaluable,” said Bonita head coach Eric Podley shortly after the scrimmage wrapped up. “It’s better to learn now what needs tweaking than next week in the middle of the game.”

Podley and his coaching staff saw inconsistency in the field goal unit. “We missed some kicks; we weren’t as efficient as we wanted to be,” he said. “But that’s understandable for a young kicker going (Grant Davis) against varsity guys for the first time. We expect him to be nervous, and we want to get those nerves out tonight, and we think he did.”

Bonita also practiced punts (K.C. Huth) and punt coverage. Again, there was more inconsistency than Podley liked. “We had some good ones and some inconsistent ones.”

At the quarterback position, Greg Spathias, Huth and Aaron Burgett each took snaps.

“Huth was very nervous in the beginning,” Podley said. “His first series was very shaky and he’ll admit that he was nervous out there, but that’s why we want to have a scrimmage to work those things out now rather than later. At the same time, he showed some good passing ability and arm strength and a willingness to keep running and getting better. We also some big hits out of him on defense.”

Spathias, taking over for the injured pre-season No. 1 quarterback Garrett Pendleton, “played well,” according to Podley. “He made a couple of mental errors, which we’ll have to eliminate before Smudge Pot.”

The defensive coaches led by Ray Medina weren’t happy about some of the tacking. “Too many single-arm tackles,” said Medina, shaking his head.

The players will be able to make amends quickly. They are back on the field this morning, practicing for Smudge Pot, now less than a week away.

“Every day when you practice against your JVs, you get a false sense of your abilities,” Podley reasoned. “By coming out here today, you start to realize you’re human and see the stuff you need to work on.”

For now, the players are still just humans, not Bearcats yet.

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