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Football: Bonds leaves Newport Harbor High

(Scott Smeltzer / Daily Pilot)
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One night Newport Harbor High Coach Jeff Brinkley honors his quarterback. The next day that same quarterback tells Brinkley he is leaving the team.

The Newport Harbor football program held its banquet on Sunday, and now Michael Bonds, who earned the team’s Offensive Back of the Year award, is no longer at the school.

Two days after the banquet, Bonds started his first day at another school.

Bonds, a junior, said he has transferred to La Cañada St. Francis, where his uncle, Jim Bonds, is the head football coach. Michael Bonds said his first day at the private Catholic school was on Tuesday.

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“My dad had a work opportunity that forced us to move to [the Los Angeles] area, and playing for my uncle was the logical decision,” Bonds said in a text message. “[Leaving Newport Harbor was the] most difficult decision of my life. I love Newport Harbor and always will. I love Coach Brinkley and those guys are like my brothers.”

The move by Bonds surprised Brinkley. He said Tom Bonds and his son informed him of the transfer on Monday.

“I’m extremely disappointed,” Brinkley said. “You know athletics has lost a lot of the loyalty it once had. We really invested a lot in him. Guys jump around left and right these days. He had been working out with us, going on the field and throwing the ball.

“We had the banquet, and the next day, he dropped the bomb on me. I preferred that he told me [he was transferring] before the banquet, or if this was in the works, even in the last year, because I would’ve played somebody else. I’m not here to coach guys that are at St. Francis.”

Bonds lasted one season as Newport Harbor’s signal caller, completing 132 of 243 passes for 1,495 yards and 13 touchdowns, while throwing nine interceptions. He made the All-Sunset League second team and Daily Pilot Newport-Mesa Dream Team.

Bonds’ departure leaves a void at Newport Harbor, which finished 4-6 overall and fourth in the Sunset League at 2-3. The Sailors were counting on Bonds’ return, a season after they missed the postseason for only the seventh time during Brinkley’s 30 years in charge of Newport Harbor.

In his senior year, Bonds plans to throw the ball for his uncle, who led St. Francis to the semifinals of the Southeast Division playoffs a year ago. The Golden Knights, who went 9-4 overall and placed third in the Angelus League at 3-2, do return their starter, Miles Bryant, who threw for 1,939 yards and 17 touchdowns, with five interceptions as a junior.

Bonds, who has an offer from the University of Cincinnati, comes from a family of quarterbacks. His uncle and father both played quarterback at Newhall Hart in the 1980s, each leading the program to a CIF Southern Section title.

Brinkley, who has guided Newport Harbor to eight section finals appearances, winning three of them, said the Sailors are moving on from Bonds. Brinkley said three players, Sam Barela and Will Brach, who will both be sophomores next season, and future junior Trevor Hendrick, will compete for the starting quarterback job.

“We’re going to be OK, and like I always tell people, ‘We’re going to win with you, or without you,’” said Brinkley, whose 237 wins at Newport Harbor rank No. 5 in Orange County and his 266 overall wins tie him for No. 17 in the state. “Of all the people on the team, one player thought [Bonds] would be the last one who would [transfer].”

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