Photos by Beth Oualline
Football:
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor
Had you seen the looks on the faces of Bonita co-head coaches Steve Bogan and Bo Beatty as they crossed the south end zone at the half, one might have thought the Bearcats were losing.
After jumping out to a 21-6 lead at Monrovia, and several turnovers later, BHS took a seven-point (28-21) advantage into the locker room.
Whatever it was that Bogan and Beatty said during the break worked, because Bonita shut out the Wildcats the rest of the way, and claimed a convincing 56-21 victory.
A lot of things went well on Friday for the Bearcats, and that included the play of freshman quarterback, Daniel Mielke.
Mielke got rave reviews from his teammates and coaches as you’ll see in the video interviews, after going 21-of-30 for 312 yards.
Miekle had a 60-yard TD pass to Adrian McCoy in the first quarter to extend Bonita’s lead to 14-0.
The SGV’s ‘most wanted’ man, Noah Mikhail, caught eight passes for north of 100 yards, and the BHS junior scored on a 3-yard TD run.
Mikhail’s score was set up by Nicholas Ramirez’s interception of Monrovia quarterback Brian Salazar, and the junior defensive lineman brought it all the way down to the MHS 3-yard line.
Jayden Montenegro was outstanding with six receptions for 120 yards.
He had a TD run of six yards, and a 6-yard TD reception.
Cole Parra paced the Bearcats ground game with 122 yards rushing, including TD runs of 6, 3 and 2 yards.
Connor Milici closed out the scoring for Bonita on a 30-yard sprint into the north end zone.
Salazar went 22-of-36 for 251 yards and two scores in leading the Monrovia offense.
Davonte Jones led the Wildcats receiving corps with eight catches for 99 yards.
Jones also had a six-yard TD run to get Monrovia on the board, and cut the BHS lead to 14-6 in the first quarter.
And he hooked up with Salazar on a 50-yard TD for what turned out to be the last score of the game for the Wildcats.
Noah Ellison had a 3-yard TD catch from Salazar.
The season-opening road victory had to feel good for the boys from La Verne, as they answered last year’s 36-35 overtime setback in week zero at the hands of the Wildcats.
Up next: Bonita and Monrovia will both be in action next Friday.
BHS (1-0) travels to Ontario Christian (1-0), and MHS (0-1) will host Palm Springs (0-1) at 7.
To view a photo gallery by Beth Oualline, click on the Facebook link here: Facebook
Just below the Mountain West League scores are some scoring plays and interviews.
Box Score:
B: 21-7-21-7-(56)
M: 6-15-0-0-(21)
Mountain West League Scores:
Ayala 35, Colony 28
Charter Oak 24, Temecula Valley 14
West Covina 40, Alta Loma 3
Bonita 56, Monrovia 21
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