By Tim Peterson (Covina) – Joseph Lara ran for 211 yards and three touchdowns to lead Bonita to a 35-32 win over Charter Oak Friday night at Lou Farrar Stadium.
Lara also caught a pass for 42 yards giving him 253 total yards overall. Lara left the game in the middle of the third quarter with what appeared to be cramping in his legs but returned in the fourth quarter to score on a two-yard run which proved to be the game-winner.
The game was expected to come down to the wire with both teams coming in unbeaten and the Sierra League title on the line and it didn’t disappoint.
Charter Oak had the lead late in the second quarter but Bonita jumped in front with just 13 seconds left in the quarter and was able to hold off the Chargers the rest of the way.
Charter Oak quarterback Dutch Burbidge was picked off by Dane Gosserand on the Chargers’ first possession of the third quarter. The Bearcats, already leading 21-17, took over at their own 42. Three plays later Lara busted off a 47-yard touchdown run to increase the lead to 28-17 with 9:29 left in the third.
Early in the fourth quarter Burbidge capped an eight-play drive with a 7-yard touchdown run. Chase Martin scored on a run for the two-point conversion and Charter Oak was within three at 28-25 with 10:00 left.
Bonita then put together the most important march of the game. The Bearcats marched 65 yards on 10 plays with Lara returning to the field and punching it in from two yards out with 3:30 remaining.
Charter Oak was able to find the end zone one more time with Burbidge getting his second of the night on a 10-yard run but with only 39 seconds left it was too little too late. Bonita then recovered an onside kick to seal it.
“We were trying to force them to chunk and take time. We knew there was real good chance they were going to score and it happened kind of the way we wanted – with enough time to that if we got the onside it was over,” Bonita head coach Steve Bogan said.
Charter Oak scored first on a 19-yard pass from Burbidge to Martin in the first quarter. Bonita responded with a 64-yard run by Lara later in the quarter to tie it at seven.
The two teams traded touchdowns again in the second quarter. Xavion Flournoy-trice finished an 80-yard drive with an 8-yard run. The Bearcats tied it on another big play when Isaiah Guerrero hit Omari Sullivan on a 25-yard strike.
Charter Oak’s next drive stalled at the Bonita four-yard line but Jose Cornejo kicked a 21-yard field goal to give the Chargers a 17-14 lead with just 51 seconds left in the half.
But Bonita needed only 38 seconds to score when after a 40-yard run by Lara, Guerrero hit Gosserand with an 8-yard scoring strike to give the Bearcats A 21-17 halftime lead.
Bonita then had enough to hold off the Chargers the rest of the way.
“You love these opportunities. What it reminded me of was a great beef stew. You got to have the beef, the players, but you need all the other parts as well, the players on the sidelines. A lot of guys stepped up, Joe (Lara) coming back. There were a lot of people pouring into this because we needed to. We needed to get everybody in,” Bogan added.
In addition to Lara’s big night on the ground, Guerrero threw for 123 yards and two touchdowns to add some balance to the offensive attack for Bonita.
For Charter Oak Burbidge threw for 230 yards and a touchdown and ran for 107 yards and two scores on 12 carries. Martin had a big night as well with 10 catches for 139 yards and a touchdown.
Bonita improved to 9-0 and 4-0 in the Sierra League with the victory while Charter Oak fell to 8-1 and 3-1.
B 7 14 7 7 35
C 7 10 0 15 32
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