Mystery for the Ages: Will Bonds Play Today?

The big question buzzing around this week isn’t whether the Angels will beat Boston. Whose nose will Raider Howie Long break this weekend? Are Bobby and Pam Ewing really getting re-married?

The real gut-wrenching, how-can-we-go-on-living-without-knowing mystery teasing the Valley area is:

Will Tom Bonds, Cal Lutheran’s injured All-America quarterback, play today when the Kingsmen line up against Cal State Northridge?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Bob Burt wants to know.

“We’re preparing as if he’s going to play,” the CSUN coach said. “I’ve believed all along he was going to play. But I don’t know. If he does, it’ll sure help their confidence.”

There is no denying that since Bonds was injured, the Kingsmen and their confidence have gone south. When he sprained his right knee two weeks ago against Cal State Hayward, he hobbled off the field, sagged into a seat along the sideline and buried his leg--and his team’s chances of winning--under a bag of ice.

“When I saw him sitting there,” said wide receiver Joe Fuca, “I thought, ‘There goes my senior season.’ ”

Early last week, though, what was originally thought to be torn ligaments was discovered to be a sprain. When word got out among the Kingsmen, they did everything but break out the champagne. Life as they knew it was not coming to a dismal end. All they had to do was survive a week or two without their quarterback.

A week ago, in a 33-9 loss at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal Lutheran died.

Starting in Bonds’ place was Jeff Chalmers, a 5-9, 150-pound freshman who admits that he came to Cal Lutheran because it was the only college he could find that would let him play quarterback. Everywhere else, coaches wanted him at defensive back or water boy.

Even CLU Coach Bob Shoup pokes fun at Chalmers’ diminutive stature. “He looks like a Pop Warner player. When he goes into the huddle, he looks like the team manager.”

Size notwithstanding, Chalmers is a gifted athlete with a strong arm. His real problems stem from limited experience. Before Bonds’ injury, not only had Chalmers never played in a college game, he had practiced for only a week. During the second day of fall practice, he tripped over a marker while running a 30-yard dash backward, part of Cal Lutheran’s preseason football decathlon. The result was a bruised ego and a dislocated elbow.

The elbow prevented Chalmers from practicing for three weeks. Coaches considered redshirting him until disaster struck in the Hayward game. Second-stringer Shane Hawkins replaced Bonds, but he completed as many passes to Hayward defenders as he did to Kingsmen receivers. He was either color blind or couldn’t pass. Shoup said later he couldn’t pass. In the fourth quarter, Chalmers was summoned from the bench and proceeded to complete 8 of 20 passes, one for a touchdown.

So it was Chalmers who played against San Luis Obispo, and it will be Chalmers who starts against Northridge, Shoup said. But the coach, in his 25th season at Cal Lutheran, has a reputation for saying one thing before a game and doing another during it. This week he admitted that Bonds could play.

“It would be an emotional lift just to have him walk out on the field,” he said. “If he plays, though, we’ll have to limit our offense.”

On the other hand, if he doesn’t play, the offense in all likelihood will continue on its present course--south.

“Yeah,” Shoup said, “Bonds would give us a lift. And he’d probably give their defensive backs fits.”

For Bonds’ part, if he really is going to play, he’s not letting on. “I can throw, but I’m not going to play unless I’m at least 90%. I’m not going to stand back in the pocket and hop around hoping I won’t get hit.”

The quarterback said he won’t even dress out unless he’s ready to play. “I’m afraid I’d get too excited, go in and play and try to do something I shouldn’t.” Even at San Luis Obispo last week, dressed in street clothes and on crutches, Bonds was doing jumping jacks on the sideline.

Regardless of what anyone at Cal Lutheran said before today, if the situation is right, if Cal Lutheran has a chance to beat the Matadors, the junior probably will play. Last year, Bonds was reportedly out with a slight shoulder separation. He entered the game midway through the fourth quarter and nearly won it. His last-minute pass in the end zone was deflected just out of Fuca’s reach and CSUN won, 27-23.

“I look forward to Northridge as much as anybody,” Bonds said. “I’ve never played a whole game against them. I’d love to play.”

His teammates--Jeff Chalmers included--wouldn’t mind, either.