FRANKLIN LOAN CENTER GAME OF THE WEEK: Bonita’s Pendleton Makes Inpressive Return + MORE PHOTOS

Nick Berghoudian takes a handoff and prepares to follow the block of DJ Theard. All photos, courtesy of Eric Davis.

Sidelined by injury the first four games of the year, Bonita quarterback Garrett Pendleton poured a season of frustration into an amazing second quarter in which he led the Bearcats on four touchdown drives en route  to a 54-20 victory over host Diamond Bar on Friday night.

After the first half ended, Pendleton had completed 10 of 14 passes for 175 yards and touchdown passes to Zach Brungard, Matt Gelalich and Austin Venegas. Cameron Griffith ran in the other to give Bonita a 26-0 lead at half.

He came out a little rusty in practice, but in the game he shook that rust right off,” said Bonita head coach Eric Podley. “It was a long second quarter (for the opposition). He did a good job. We’re happy to have him back.”

Greg Spathias, who led the Bearcats to a 4-0 record, gave way late in the first quarter after completing six of nine passes for 57 yards. His two drives were stalled by a fumble and an interception, which kept Bonita out of the end zone in the first quarter.

Podley was pleased, knowing he now has another arrow in his quiver that he can let loose over the course of the long season.

“Any time you have depth that’s a real plus,” Podley added. “Any time you have competition at practice for a position, that’s a real plus. We had an offensive line competition with a couple of tackles, as well. All that makes us better. That’s something we’ve lacked in past. We haven’t had enough depth to create competition at practice. This year, a guy’s having a bad day, you better watch out, somebody can come in and replace him.”

Spathias hadn’t had a bad day all season, but Pendleton had been given the No. 1 nod to start the season before he went down in the week before Bonita’s opening game against San Dimas.

In Bonita’s last three scoring drives of the second quarter, the Bearcats benefited from outstanding field position, starting three straight offensive series on Diamond Bar’s 35, 36 and 45, which was a credit to their outstanding defense led Giomani Johnson, K.C. Huth, Garrett Horine, Erik Mikity, Justin Serrano, Cody McKenzie, Daniel Harriman and Nick Pichotta. Seth Balentine provided outstanding kickoff covering as well, repeatedly delivering tackles just as the ball arrived into the kick returner’s hands.

Pendleton’s second scoring drive of the second quarter was especially impressive, as he threw completions to four different receivers – Grant Wharton, Venegas, Griffith and the 9-yard-touchdown pass to Brungard on a perfect timing route. After another 12-yard scoring strike to Gelalich over the middle, Pendleton hooked up with Venegas on three straight passes, including a 6-yard touchdown toss. In the first half alone, Venegas had six receptions for 96 yards to lead all Bonita receivers.

In the second half, Bonita received the kickoff, and marched right down the field, highlighted by another reception by Venegas, before Johnson ran it in to put the Bearcats up 33-0 after Brandt Davis’ extra point. In the ensuing series, Diamond Bar self-destructed when the long snapper sent the ball soaring over the punters hands, with Bonita recovering on Diamond Bar’s 4-yard-line. Huth carried in from there to put Bonita up 40-0 after the extra point.

Brandt Davis boots another extra point through the uprights.

From that point forward, the game got a little ragged. Bonita emptied the benches, getting a peek at some of its players of the future, like Mark Salce. Although the defensive specialist gave up a touchdown to receiver George Katrib, Salce came back the next time to intercept Henry Osama’s pass when the Diamond Bar quarterback tried to pick on him a second time.  Bonita quarterback Aaron Burkett also saw some reps late in the game and scored his first touchdown of the season on a quarterback sneak.

But the big story was Pendleton, who was forced to miss the entire preseason before he could strap on his helmet.

“It felt good to be out there,” Pendleton said. “It was a long way back. I worked hard.

“I had fun tonight.”

And the Bonita faithful had fun watching him perform as he led the Bearcats to their most dominating game of the season so far.

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Photos, courtesy of Eric Davis — Good catch, Austin!