In its 50th year, Bonita Vista High School finally got something it had been missing out on all those years: a CIF football championship.
“Fifty years and this is the first time,” an obviously elated BVHS athletic director Jason Murphy stated after the top-seeded Barons’ 52-14 win over the second-seeded Mission Bay Bucs in last Saturday’s Division III finals at Southwestern College’s Devore Stadium. “It’s incredible. This championship means so much to us. It was amazing. We’re ecstatic!”
While it was a multi-generational wait for the Barons to reach the San Diego Section finals, they didn’t waste the opportunity by capturing the school’s first division title in its first trip to the CIF finals.
While the school is celebrating its 50th anniversary, the 2015 season marked the 49th season of varsity play for the Barons football team.
The home side of Devore Stadium was nearly full, with thousands of jubilant BVHS fans soaking up the history-making occasion.
School pride is at an obvious high, according to BVHS principal Bettina Batista.
“It’s surreal,” Batista explained. “I am celebrating my 10th anniversary at the school and the pride has never been greater. I’m proud of all the football players and our coaching staff. They’ve definitely led the kids to great things this year — both on and off the field. These coaches have helped turn these young boys into young men.”
Senior running back Greg Bell and junior quarterback Anthony Posada helped turn last Saturday’s Division III championship game into a rout.
Bell rushed for 202 yards on 20 carries and scored a whopping five touchdowns while Posada completed seven of 11 passing attempts for 205 yards and two aerial strikes.
The Barons racked up 478 total offensive yards to go with their seven touchdowns in the game.
Bell has now rushed for 2,207 yards and scored a team-leading 31 touchdowns on the season.
Posada has passed for 1,907 yards and 13 touchdowns this season.
Despite the lopsided victory in the CIF finals, Bonita Vista had to battle from behind after the Bucs (10-3) surprised everyone in the stadium by recovering an on-side kick on the opening kick-off. Mission Bay drove the ball down the field for the first score as sophomore quarterback Jaiden Correa connected with Jhavari Ransom on a 28-yard touchdown pass.
It was pretty much all Barons after that — both offensively and defensively.
Bell ripped off a 54-yard scoring run to match the Bucs’ opening touchdown. But a missed extra-point conversion left the reigning Metro-Mesa League champions trailing, 7-6, on the scoreboard.
That didn’t last long.
Bell scored on a one-yard run in the dying minutes of the opening quarter to bump the Barons ahead, 12-7, on the scoreboard. However, the Bonitans were unsuccessful on the two-point conversion, putting them ahead by five-points.
A fourth-down pass from Posada to senior Abraham Kinghorn set up the go-ahead touchdown.
Mission Bay took a 14-12 lead when Derrick Clark scored from two yards out early in the second quarter.
But the Barons would rebound to build a 25-14 lead by halftime.
Bonita Vista appeared to be driving for another go-ahead score as Bell ran and Posada passed the team down to the Bucs’ six-yard line. Bell had the final carry of the drive to the two-yard line but was ruled to have fumbled the ball on second effort while attempting to reach the ball over the goal-line.
Mission Bay took over deep in its own territory but managed to reposition the ball near midfield on a pass interference call and burst by Clark to the 45. But the Bucs had to punt the ball when facing fourth down and four.
The Barons started at their own 12-yard line and an ensuing 61-yard run by Bell promptly placed the ball at the Mission Bay 28.
Facing third-and-13, junior receiver Keenan Ellis came up with a big grab to the 21-yard line to bring up fourth-and-three.
Posada then lofted a pass to Quentin Harrison, who caught the ball at the one-yard line.
Posada then handed the ball twice to Bell, who moved the ball forward to the one-foot line. Bell scored on his third attempt at the goal-line with 31 seconds to play in the first half.
The Barons misfired on the two-point conversion again to leave them in front 18-14.
Bonita Vista then took a page out of the Mission Bay playbook by successfully executing an on-side kick on the ensuing kick-off.
The ball was at the 50-yard line with 29.9 seconds to play. That was all that Posada needed to loft another arching pass to Harrison, who caught the ball just short of the goal-line before maintaining his momentum into the end zone.
Bonita Vista elected to go for the extra-point conversion this time and was successful, taking a nine-point lead into halftime.
Harrison finished the first half with 70 yards on two pass receptions.
It figured the team that scored first to kick off the second half would seize the game’s momentum.
It turned out to be the Barons after Atoa Fox returned a punt 70 yards to the MBHS four-yard line. Fox maneuvered in a zigzag pattern across the field before finally running out of gas.
Bell didn’t waste any time by scoring on a four-yard run for this fourth touchdown of the game.
The PAT conversion went awry again, though Bonita Vista extended its lead to 31-14.
The BVHS defense secured the victory from this point forward.
Junior Sean DeArmas intercepted a pass with 8:55 remaining in the third quarter. Posada then tossed a 66-yard catch-and-carry to Harrison, who scored his second touchdown of the game. The successful PAT conversion pushed the Baron lead to 38-14.
Chris Boguille then picked off a Mission Bay pass. Though the Barons didn’t score on that drive, they did on their next drive after punting to pin the Bucs at their own five-yard line.
Mission Bay’s ensuing punt went out of bounds at the 18-yard-line, leaving the Barons with an extremely short field to work with, and they made short work of the bonanza situation.
It took Bell three carries to punch the ball in from the three-yard line. Bell had his fifth TD of the game and Bonita Vista had, by now, a safe 45-14 lead.
Trevian Lanier intercepted a pass to position the Barons at the Mission Bay 27-yard line. Kinghorn then ripped off a 29-yard scoring run to make the score 52-14 with 33 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Bonita Vista head coach Chris Thompson then freely substituted in the fourth quarter.
Bell was clearly the star of the game with five TDs but remained humble after the victory.
“Our coaches prepared us for this,” he said. “Our O-line blocked well and I ran well. We put a lot of hard work in practice and it paid off. At halftime, we were fired up and blew them out of the water from there.”
Junior Josh Godfrey rushed nine times for 45 yards as the Barons piled up 273 rushing yards in the game.
Harrison had three catches for 136 yards while Ellis had two catches for 24 yards. Bell had one catch for 21 yards and Kinghorn had one catch for 24 yards.
Bell finished the game with 223 all-purpose yards.
Defensively for the Bonita Vista, DeArmas led the team with 10 total tackles while senior Dennis Rosario ranked next best with eight total tackles.
The Barons eliminated the fifth-seeded Imperial Tigers by a 49-7 score in the preceding week’s semifinals in a game that was called midway through the third quarter due to an altercation between the teams along the BVHS sideline. Two Barons were suspended by the section and Thompson elected to sit down two more players for the first half of the game for disciplinary reasons.
“That first quarter we just wanted to weather the storm and, by the final minute of the quarter, we did that,” Thompson explained. “I told the team at halftime we had to continue to score some more. They (the Bucs) are an explosive team. We had to contain that explosiveness.”
It turned out Mission Bay couldn’t contain the Barons’ explosiveness.
The championship moment was extra special for Thompson, whose son Trace, a junior linebacker, is on the team.
“That part you can’t take away,” the BVHS coach said.
Bonita Vista’s female linewoman, Brittany Voyce, got to play in the game to make a bit of history of her own as the first female player to participate in a CIF championship game for the Barons. She was credited with one assist on a tackle.
After winning the first section division title in school history, things could get even more interesting for Bonita Vista in the next two weeks as the state playoffs kick off.
The Barons will host Anaheim Canyon (9-5) in Friday’s Southern California Division IV-AA regional playoff game at Southwestern College. Kick-off is 7:30 p.m.
Bonita Vista is joined by fellow Metro Conference rival Mater Dei Catholic in Friday’s regional playoffs. The newly crowned Division IV San Diego Section champion Crusaders (12-1) will host undefeated Riverside Notre Dame (14-0) in a Southern California Division V-AA regional playoff game. Kick-off is 7:30 p.m.
Thompson remains optimistic his team’s season will be extended at least one more week, especially after cornerback Ethan Williams’ original three-game suspension was reduced to one game (which he served against Mission Bay).
“Now it’s 13 down and one to go,” the BVHS coach noted. “We’ll handle what we can control.”
School pride at the moment at BVHS isn’t just being lavished on the football team. It’s also showering the girls tennis team (CIF Division III champions) and boys water polo team (CIF Division III runners-up).
“I’m happy with how many students — both girls and boys — are participating in sports,” Batista explained. “We’ve had a fantastic fall sports season this year.”
SAN DIEGO SECTION FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Southwestern Community College
Friday, Dec. 4
DIVISION IV
(1) Mater Dei Catholic 49, (3) Bishop’s 14
Records: Mater Dei Catholic 12-1, Bishop’s 8-5
DIVISION I
(1) Oceanside 23, (3) El Camino 14
Records: Oceanside 9-4, El Camino 7-6
Saturday, Dec. 5
DIVISION III
(1) Bonita Vista 52, (2) Mission Bay 14
Records: Bonita Vista 11-2, Mission Bay 10-3
DIVISION II
(2) Rancho Bernardo 41, (4) Mt. Carmel 23
Records: Rancho Bernardo 11-2, Mt. Carmel 9-4
OPEN DIVISION
(1) Helix 44, (2) St. Augustine 30
Records: Helix 12-1, St. Augustine 10-3
State Regional Playoff Games
DIVISION IV-AA: Anaheim Canyon (9-5) vs. Bonita Vista (11-2) — Friday, 7:30 p.m. at Southwestern College
DIVISION V-AA: Riverside Notre Dame (14-0) at Mater Dei Catholic (12-1) — Friday. 7:30 p.m.
DIVISION VI-AA: — Belmont (14-0) at Coronado (9-4) — Friday, 7:30 p.m.
