Smudgepot 2012

After nearly winning the CIF-Southern Section Southeast Division football championship in 2010, last season’s 6-5 record and first-round playoff exit felt like disappointments for Bonita High School. Perhaps it’s a good thing the Bearcats have such high expectations that simply reaching the postseason without making a run is considered a disappointment.
With those types of expectations comes the pressure to deliver. And nobody will be feeling it more than new head coach Adrian Medrano, who took over for Eric Podley. But have no fear, Podley remains on the staff, as does longtime defensive coordinator Ray Medina. Their presence will make the transition easier for the energetic Medrano. “The bottom line is there’s going to be little margin for error,” Medrano said. “We do have the potential to be a pretty good football team, but we don’t have too much room for mistakes.” A big reason Bonita took a step back last year was an offense that went missing at key times against top competition. Sure, the Bearcats were fine against teams they should handle, but in step-up games the quarterback play was inconsistent.
Coaches are hopeful junior Tanner Diebold is ready to live up to his potential. But just to make sure, there was an offseason-long competition for the job.
Diebold has the arm to give Bonita’s offense the explosiveness it will need to compete in the Hacienda League. The running game should be fine with Reggie Turner now the full-time feature back.
Losing receiver Garrett Horine to graduation was a big blow and the new receivers are light on experience. Victor Magallanes should be the top target and could be poised for a big season. Mark Salce also figures to see plenty of balls thrown his way. The line just might be the strength of the offense and there’s good size in veterans Spencer Hoff (6-foot-2, 255 pounds) and D.J. Theard (6-4, 270). “We named them `The Anchors’ for us throughout the offseason,” Medrano said. “They worked hard. They’re going to be our two tackles and will both be two-way linemen on offense and defense.” Like the offense, Bonita’s defense had moments last season when it disappeared at the wrong time. The Bearcats also proved to be quite stout when on their game, such as the San Dimas win. With the top-five tacklers from last season all graduated, the rebuilding process must be swift. It doesn’t help that all-league defensive end Ryan Ramirez and linebacker Nick Todorovich suffered offseason knee injuries and will miss the season. There’s little experience returning in the linebacker corps, but junior Thomas Loy projects as a special player and showed signs of it last season as a sophomore. Replacing Horine in the secondary is impossible, but coaches think junior Brendan Smith could develop into a big-time player over the next two seasons. Bonita better be ready right out of the gate with rival San Dimas still smarting from last year’s loss in the Smudge Pot. South Hills, La Serna and Claremont are other games on the nonleague schedule, so the Bearcats had better be on their best behavior early.

“It’s a tough league, everybody’s very well-coached,” Medrano said. “It’s not going to be an easy task for anyone.”