It will be an emotional night as St. Francis plays first game without coach Jim Bonds on Saturday
It will be an emotional night for the St. Francis football team when it travels to play Mira Costa on Saturday in their coronavirus-shortened season spring opener at 7 p.m., because for the first time in two decades, coach Jim Bonds will not be with them.
Bonds, who also was a star quarterback at Hart High in the 1980s and later played at UCLA, died Oct. 28 after a battle with cancer. It was in the spring of 2018 that he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. He was 51.
Ted Corcoran, a close friend of Bonds who has been with St. Francis since 2007 and has served as the strength and conditioning coach, has been asked to take over on an interim basis.
Trying to put into words how emotional Saturday’s game was difficult for Corcoran, but he couldn’t of said it much better than he did.
“Just to be able to think about that and try to put it into words is a challenge,” Corcoran said. “The players want to play so bad for coach (Bonds) that it really carried them throughout the challenges of this covid pandemic. It allowed them to stay with the fight. They never waned, showed lack of energy or showed frustration. They just came out every day with a determination to play in a way that would make him proud.”
St. Francis will honor coach Bonds Saturday by not having a quarterback during its first offensive play against Mira Costa, and will wait out the clock and take a penalty.
“We will take the delay of game penalty,” Corcoran said. “The players know it, Mira Costa knows it, and it’s the right thing to do. It’s a small gesture for a man that loomed large for St. Francis.”
St. Francis finished 8-3 in 2019, which included a close 23-21 victory over Mira Costa in its season opener that year. Mira Costa went on to finish 7-4, and this figures to be another close match-up.
St. Francis has a strong group returning, especially with junior Max Garrison, an all-purpose threat along with senior Bryson Reeves, a wide receiver and defensive back who has signed with Utah.
Plus, the Golden Knights’ offensive line is much improved, especially with highly touted freshman Phillip Ocon, already 6-foot-4 and 280 pounds to go with junior center Duncan Sprengal.
One of the biggest battles during camp was between sophomore quarterbacks Jack Jacobs and Michael Martin, and though it was very close, Corcoran said the Golden Knights will start Jacobs on Saturday.
“They both did such a great job,” Corcoran said of his young QBs. “We were comfortable with both of them, but we had to make a decision and Jack is just a little further along at this point.”
Published at Fri, 12 Mar 2021 17:15:00 +0000