By Duane Barker
(Whittier) The Bonita Bearcats traveled south to take on the La Serna Lancers to begin the 2021 campaign and came away with a 34-28 win in overtime Friday night at Sandra Sanchez Thorstenson Stadium on the campus of Cal High School.
It was all that you could ask for in a season opener. Beautiful weather, and good size crowd to cheer the teams along. A little bit of nerves to start the game and both teams struggling to move the ball with any consistency. It wouldn’t be until two minutes left in the opening frame that either team got on the board.
Bonita was gifted superb field position when on fourth down, a bad snap left punter Jake Long with nothing left to do but fall on the ball at his own ten yard line. From there the Bearcats only needed one play as Isaiah Portillo scooted across the goal line.
Bonita extended their advantage to 13-0 when Daniel Andrade found Noah Mikhail on a catch and carry for 46-yards. Dominc Flores added the extra point with 1:23 left in in the first.
La Serna came back with a score of their own early in the second with a six-play 65-yard drive with Owen Long getting the call on a 25-yard scamper to paydirt. The drive was set up by Nick Meza’s interception of Andrade at his own 20 and returning it out to the 35.
La Serna grabed and extended the lead to 21-13 on passes of six and 43 yards from CJ Ceron to Meza and Jayden Northrup.
Coming out of the break Bonita tied the game after completing a 57-yard drive capped by an Andrade to Trevor Cadam pass of 13-yards. The Bearcats went for two and were successful when Andrade found Portillo.
Less than a minute later the Lancers took back the lead on a 34-yard pass play from Ceron to Jackson Ivie. Jake Long added the extra point to bring the score to 28-21.
With time winding down in the final frame, Bonita went on a seven play, 63-yard march with Greg Escobedo pounding the ball across the goal line from a yard away. The Bearcats opted for the extra point instead of going for two and the potential win.
The Lancers had one last chance to win the game in regulation driving deep into Bearcat territory. The turnover bug reared it’s ugly head when a Ceron pass was intercepted by Bonita at the Bearcat five yard line.
La Serna won the toss and elected to take the ball at the start of overtime. The Lancers drove the ball inside the Bonita 10 but were turned away on fourth and goal.
Up next was Bonita’s opportunity and they made the most of it when Andrade hit Bryan Bradshaw over the middle for the game winner.
The Bearcats will travel a little farther south next week to take on Downey while La Serna will look to even up their record hosting a tough Warren team.
@ANON
man u suck at satire
If Bonita is all the Lancers can handle, Andy George’s squad is in big trouble going up against Kevin Pearson’s Warren team. The Bears’ QB is among the nation’s best, having been offered by Georgia, USC and Oregon as a sophomore. La Serna’s strength is not necessarily pass defense, and the extra attention needed there will give the Bears room to run, putting extra pressure on the Lancer offense to score early and often. In any event, a great-looking game.
Well….there goes 10-0. Maybe 9-1 But Warren is much, much better than soft Bonita. Would you settle for 8-2?