Bonds Can’t Rehabilitate Cal Lutheran : Quarterback’s Return From Injury Is Intercepted by Santa Clara, 33-9

After what seemed like an eternity to Cal Lutheran--it was really only three weeks--quarterback Tom Bonds finally had rehabilitated his sprained knee enough to play Saturday in the Kingsmen’s Western Football Conference game against Santa Clara.

It seemed as good a time as any for Bonds to make his comeback. He could pass and sort of drop back, anyway, and even hobble around if he had to. After losing three straight games, his team needed a win in the worst way.

Best of all, the Kingsmen were playing Santa Clara, a team who had done them one better by losing four straight. The Broncos hadn’t seen the light of victory since Sept. 13. Don’t hit a dog while it’s down, so the thinking went--kick it, it’s a whole lot easier.

Besides, these very same dogs had romped on CLU last season and while none of the players admitted it publicly, some of them privately talked in revengeful tones.

Unfortunately for Bonds and the Kingsmen (2-4, 0-3 in conference), none of this translated into much of anything on the field. Santa Clara beat CLU, 33-9, right there in front of the home fans at Mount Clef Stadium.

Even though Bonds threw 33 passes, he managed only 160 yards. Even worse, the All-American quarterback was picked off five times. Coach Bob Shoup said before the game he was hoping his offensive linemen would take the pressure off Bonds. Instead, they dropped it squarely on him.

All afternoon, the quarterback was hobbling both for time to throw and his life.

“The knee didn’t bother me that much,” Bonds said. “But I couldn’t move as well.

“It was a tough game. They just hit us like a brick. It was weird because we were flat, and they just jumped on us.”

Flat is the term commonly used by football players when they throw lots of interceptions and no one blocks on offense and they get the ball crammed down their throats on defense.

Bronco running back Matt Shaw ran for 77 yards and caught seven passes for another 37 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Greg Calcagno completed 26 of 38 passes for 297 yards and four touchdowns. All against a Cal Lutheran defense that was coming off a strong performance against Cal State Northridge a week ago, and that was ranked No. 2 in the conference.

“Maybe we thought we’d have a cakewalk against them,” said defensive tackle John Hynes. “But they were a lot better than I thought they’d be.”

Of Shaw, Hynes said: “He just seemed to get away. He was there one second and all of the sudden he was gone.”

“We just kept slamming it in there,” Shaw said. “We knew they were tough, but our offense had been just an inch from putting it together all along. Today, we finally did.”

The Broncos wound up with 440 yards on offense, most of which came through the air.

The first time they got their hands on the ball, the Bronc bombers drove 65 yards on seven plays for a score. Calcagno hit Shaw for an eight-yard touchdown pass midway through the first quarter.

“We were skeptical coming into this game,” Calcagno said. Which wasn’t particularly surprising for a team that hadn’t won in over a month. “Well, we thought their defense would be very tough, but we handled them OK.”

And then some. After one of Bonds’ interceptions, with time running out in the first half, Calcagno hit receiver Mike Monnard on a seven-yard scoring pass. That made it, 17-3.

Late in the third quarter, Cal Lutheran seemed to come alive when Bonds led the offense on a long drive that ended with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Eddie Gran.

“I thought that drive was the key,” Bonds said. “That’s when I really thought we had a chance.”

But Calcagno brought the Broncos right back with a drive of their own. The key plays were a 27-yard pass to Monnard and the eventual eight-yard touchdown pass to Travis Bargeman, who was a second-team Times All-Valley selection at Alemany last year. That took whatever life the Kingsmen had gained by virtue of their scoring drive out of them. The game was all but over.

The normally placid Shoup was anything but timid from the second quarter on. The Cal Lutheran coach was bitterly disappointed by his team’s showing. He was uncharacteristically vocal along the sidelines. He lectured players, argued with referees and was basically in a funk about the whole game.

“This was a game that the team with the most emotion would win,” Shoup said. “We had too many mistakes on offense, defense and in our kicking game. Some of it was Santa Clara, but most of it was us. I hope we improve, because if we don’t, we’re gonna get our noses bloodied pretty good.

“We’re not together right now.”

That, more than anything else, had been painfully clear.