Bishop High is going for the gold in football

Only in California, with a population of nearly 37 million, can you drive up and down the state and run into people and communities with so diverse interests.

The same can be said about watching high school football in Southern California. From no-huddle offenses to double-wing formations, from schools with million-dollar fields to schools with dirt fields, the variety on display is mind-boggling. But the excitement of playing for a championship is universal, whether you live in Westlake Village or 276 miles away in Bishop.

On Saturday, Westlake receiver Nelson Spruce was up at 8 a.m. to watch film in preparation for a Northern Division championship game against rival Oaks Christian. In Bishop, a town of 3,500 near the snowcapped Eastern Sierras, running back Aaron Puls was riding in a float with teammates from his 12-1 team as part of a Christmas parade.

“It’s an interesting experience being put on a stage and being driven down the street and being looked at and cheered,” Puls said. “It’s nice but not something you want to do every day.”

It’s championship week, and the options are many. There will be 13 Southern Section championships played Friday and Saturday. The City Section will hold its Division II final Friday at East Los Angeles College and its Division I final Saturday at the Coliseum.

There are many stories to tell, and one of the most intriguing is the Bishop Broncos trying to win their first section title since 1957. They play Boron in the Northeast Division final on Saturday.

Just as routine as a player from Mission Viejo going surfing before school, Bishop’s kicker, Cody Rigney, and center, Schain Thomson, rose at 6 a.m. a week ago to go hunting. They bagged three geese with their 12-gauge shotgun. By 8 a.m., Rigney showed up for his first-period English class wearing camouflage pants and a camouflage jacket. He had to wash the camouflage paint from his face.

“I wouldn’t put it past them to have night-vision goggles,” Bishop Coach Bill Egan said of the players who go hunting.

Egan spent 13 years as the coach of the U.S. Olympic Alpine ski team. He’s in his 10th season coaching the Broncos and using some of the same training techniques he used for skiing.

“There’s a tremendous carryover,” he said. “You have to have nice strong legs.”

Bishop’s best player is the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Puls, who also plays safety on defense. He has a 4.4 grade-point average and wants to be a history teacher despite classmates teasing him.

“I don’t understand why they would bag on me for that,” he said. “It’s an awesome career.”

Puls, though, hasn’t finished playing football. He has rushed for more than 1,000 yards and hits with great power on defense.

“When he runs, his knees are sky high and he’s tough to handle,” Egan said. “And he’s a great blocker.”

The Bishop community is going wild over the football team. There were fans who watched the team’s semifinal victory over Pasadena Poly from outside the stadium fence because there weren’t enough seats.

“It’s a huge deal,” Puls said. “The community is excited for us. There’s a lot of pride involved. Everyone is coming to the games and putting up signs at their businesses, ‘Go Broncos.’”

On Monday, Bishop’s top players, including Puls, are scheduled to take a five-hour trip to Long Beach for a championship luncheon. But Puls can’t make it. He decided completing a book report and studying for a “Constitutional Conversation” took priority. Judges will be coming to school to ask questions of students who have been studying the Bill of Rights.

“We’ve procrastinated on this, and now it’s crunch time,” he said. “The thing is we can’t bail on our groups. If our groups could go with us, we’d absolutely do it.”

If Puls weren’t playing this week, he’d be backpacking, hiking or fishing around Bishop. But he’s not complaining.

“The support from the community is incredible,” he said.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

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