Bankhead, Bees Hook Up as CLU Opens With Win

A day before Cal Lutheran’s opener, Coach Bob Shoup was still uncertain of the status of senior wide receiver John Bankhead, who had petitioned the school over a grade discrepancy after being declared academically ineligible.

Luckily for the Kingsmen, the petition was approved just in time. Bankhead scored Cal Lutheran’s first touchdown and sparked a 17-13 nonconference victory over Sonoma State on Saturday in a shaky season debut for the Kingsmen at Mount Clef Stadium.

“This was a really important game for us to win,” Shoup said. “You just can’t believe how important it was. We changed our coaching staff, our quarterback and our entire offensive line.”

For Bankhead and junior quarterback Jim Bees, starting his first game, a victory was vital to their confidence.

Both came out unsteady in the first half. Bees failed to complete a pass in his first nine attempts, while Bankhead dropped two passes that could have gone for touchdowns.

“I had a bad training camp and my confidence was not as high as it could have been,” Bankhead said.

Bees calmed down after the first quarter to throw touchdown passes of 41 and 3 yards. He completed 20 of 40 passes for 233 yards. One pass was intercepted. Bankhead, who had 37 catches for 787 yards and 5 touchdowns last season, had a team-leading 4 receptions for 76 yards.

“Bees handled himself well the second half,” Shoup said.

Bees also took the first step in proving he can carry on where Tom Bonds, the quarterback the past four years, left off.

“This is a brand new team, the ’88 Kingsmen,” Bees said. “The other Kingsmen are gone. Let us do our job.”

During a scoreless first quarter, however, Cal Lutheran couldn’t get the job done, going farther backward than forward. The Kingsmen ended the period with minus-10 yards total offense.

Trailing, 3-0, late in the second quarter, Bees finally got the team moving and capped a 73-yard, 5-play drive by hitting Bankhead with a 41-yard touchdown pass with 2:20 left in the half. Bankhead outran two defenders on a deep pattern and collected the pass inside the five.

“We played a bad game offensively,” Bankhead said. “But if our offense had played the way it has in practice, it wouldn’t have been close.”

After Greg Maw hit a 31-yard field goal early in the third period, the Kingsmen pulled ahead, 17-3, on Bees’ three-yard touchdown pass to Noel Chesnut with 4:59 left in the period. That play capped a 78-yard, 11-play drive.

The Kingsmen wound up with 236 yards in offense but rushed for only three yards. Sonoma compiled 278 yards of offense, including 128 yards rushing by Sheldon Hall.

Otha Jackson set up the Cossacks’ only touchdown, intercepting a Bees’ pass at the Sonoma 35. The Cossacks moved 65 yards in 8 plays and scored on quarterback Mike Zorn’s one-yard run with 13:31 to play.

The Cossacks closed to within four points on Harry Konstantinopoulos’ 31-yard field goal with 8:05 left.

While Cal Lutheran (5-6 last season) kept its seven-game win streak against Sonoma intact, the victory may have been costly.

Tight end Ken Whitney, a 6-foot, 4-inch, 270-pound junior, hyper-extended his right knee after making a reception for 28 yards in the third quarter.