Cub Football - Gritty Cubs to play Bonita on the road in CIF Division 5 quarterfinal on Friday
LOYOLA TRAVELS TO LA VERNE FRIDAY TO TAKE ON BONITA IN CIF DIVISION 5 QUARTERFINALS
Few prep football observers contemplated that Loyola would be in the CIF Southern Section playoffs, much less preparing for the quarterfinal round, before the season kicked off in August following the transfer of a large number of starters and projected starters.
But here the Cubs are, having displayed uncommon resilience, grit and a never-say-die attitude against long odds, heading into the playoff quarterfinals.
A road victory on Friday against Bonita, the second place squad out of the Sierra League, would put Loyola one win away from playing for the CIF Southern Section Division 5 championship.
The Cubs decided to ignore the prognosticators of doom, banded together, stared adversity down, and are now in position to make a serious postseason run.
Last Friday at Smith Field, Loyola won an arm wrestling match, 17-14, against an athletic, well coached Newbury Park squad in the first round. The Cubs competed hard all night and made the plays they had to make to advance to the quarterfinals.
Opportunity awaits this Friday, and it is fair to anticipate that the players who stayed true to Loyola will fight furiously to take another big step toward a goal that seemed a fanciful dream when fall camp began.
Bonita is a physical football team, and it will likely take the Cubs’ best effort of the season to down the Bearcats on their home turf. But don’t be surprised if Loyola punches its ticket to the semifinals.
A LOOK AT THE BONITA BEARCATS
Bonita beat favored Northview, 31-19, in Covina in its first round contest on Friday. The Bearcats finished second in the Sierra League behind Charter Oak and have compiled an 8-3 record on the field. Their official ledger is 7-4 after having their pre-league, 37-0, demolition of Diamond Ranch declared a forfeit loss because of having an ineligible player participate in the game.
Bonita’s season record to date is as follows: loss to Muir, 17-14; rout of Diamond Ranch, 37-0; defeat at the hands of Aquinas, 35-13; victory over San Dimas, 28-14; win over Schurr, 14-7; triumph over Colony, 21-7; blasting of Glendora, 33-10; destruction of Claremont, 31-7; handling of Los Osos, 28-7; loss to league champ Charter Oak, 23-6; and emphatic, 31-19, victory over Northview in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs.
Co-coaches Bo Beatty and Steve Bogan run a successful, hard nosed program. The Bearcats were 11-1 last season and finished 9-3 in both 2022 and 2023.
Bonita’s full statistics are not up to date in MaxPreps; however, it is easy to identify its top players.
At the helm of the Bearcats’ balanced offense is veteran senior quarterback Tyler Lippert (6-1, 205), who has completed 63% of his passes with a 10.1 yard average per completion, and throws for 103.8 yards per outing. As a junior in 2024 he amassed over 2,000 aerial yards.
Bonita’s top ball carrier is sophomore Sebastian Vasquez (5-8, 165). Against Northview the talented ball carrier rushed for 143 yards on 30 carries and scored three TDs. It is not known if bruising running back Joe Lara (6-0, 200) will return from injury this week.
The top Bearcat receivers are fast soph Matt Milazzo (6-2, 160, 11.3 yards per catch), junior tight end Adam Hodgson (6-0, 210, 15.6 ypr) and fleet footed senior Jacob Maddox (5-11, 170, 13.1 ypr). Milazzo had TD grabs of 51 and 75 yards last Friday.
Bonita’s defense is a physically tough, swarming unit which has allowed an average of only 15.7 points per contest.
Rugged junior linebacker Isaiah Lazarus (5-7, 185) is the Bearcat tackle leader with 89 total stops, including 61 solos. Senior safety Parker Alexander is the second leading tackler with 52, leads the squad with four interceptions and has four passes defended. Soph corner McCoy Browner (6-0, 175) has picked off three passes and has five passes defended.
Sophomore defensive lineman Izik Rodriguez (6-0, 250) leads the team with seven sacks. Big defensive ends, senior Stewart Graham (6-4, 220) and junior Matthew Mijares (6-2, 240) are tough as nails.
LOYOLA - BONITA GAME OUTLOOK
This quarterfinal battle will likely be decided by which squad plays the best up front on both lines of scrimmage.
Bonita rolled out to a 24-0 lead over Northview going into the fourth quarter of last Friday’s first round game. The Cubs cannot afford to get into a large scoring hole.
Loyola’s offensive line needs to put forth a dominant performance, and the Cubs’ ‘Wolfpack’ defense must play with its hair on fire for Loyola to pull off a win.
Indeed, the Mission League is superior to the Sierra League, and the Mission League gauntlet has the Cubs’ well prepared for the prize fight on Friday. The duel stacks up to be a barn burner.
The Bearcats’ football stadium, Glenn Davis Stadium, is named after Bonita’s all time greatest football player, who matriculated to Army West Point in 1943 and helped lead the Cadets to three consecutive National Championships in 1944, 1945 and 1946 while compiling a 27-0-1 record. Known as “Mr. Outside”, Davis, an All-American running back for the Cadets, won the 1946 Heisman Trophy. It was renamed from Bearcat Bowl to Glenn Davis Stadium in 1986.
THE LOYOLA - BONITA SERIES
Loyola and Bonita played once before in 1953, some 72 years ago. The Cubs, under head coach JACK BOUCHARD, defeated the Bearcats, 6-0, in their second non-league contest. Loyola finished the ‘53 season 7-1-2.
BOUCHARD served as the Cubs’ head coach from 1947-1951 and again in 1953. His successful overall record was 40-13-2 (74%). BOUCHARD’s 1950 Catholic League championship squad advanced to the CIF Southern Section Large Schools playoff semifinals.
THIS WEEK’S CIF SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION 5 QUARTERFINAL PLAYOFF GAMES
Redondo* (7-4) vs. St. Paul (4-7)
BONITA* (7-4) vs. LOYOLA (5-6)
Aliso Niguel* (8-3) vs. La Serna (8-3)
Rio Hondo Prep* (11-0) vs. Troy (10-1)
* Denotes home team
CUBS IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Below is the list of Loyola graduates on college football teams in 2025 according to published collegiate rosters:
JAKE ARELLANO '24, DB, Bentley University
CHAD BAILEY ‘20, DB, Bentley University
BROCK BOJORQUEZ ‘25, DB, Johns Hopkins
COLIN CRUCE ‘22, OL, Bowdoin
KHALIL CUEVA ‘24, WR, University of San Diego
JEFFREY JOHNSON ‘21, TE, Cal
LUKE HARRISON ‘24, OL, University of San Diego
CONNOR KLEIN ‘25, LB, Cornell
SHAWN LIN '22, DL, Columbia
LEIGHTON LINE ‘23, DL, Cal Lutheran
JOSHUA LONG ‘21, TE, Eastern Michigan
TAHJ OWENS '22, DB, Princeton
JACK PARIS '23, DL, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
RYAN QUINTANAR '20, LB, USC
XAVIER RICE ‘23, QB, Duquesne
ISAIAH SANDERS, ‘24, LB, UC Davis
PATRICK SODL ‘22, LB, Columbia
ZAKHARI SPEARS ‘21, DB, Idaho
HENRY STICKLER ‘22, WR, SMU
JACK SUSNJAR ‘23, OL, USC
JOE TATUM ‘22, QB, Texas
SCOTT TAYLOR '25, LB, UCLA
RYAN TURK ‘24, OL, Dartmouth
DESI VALDES ‘25, DB, Pasadena City College
CHAMP WESTBROOKS ‘24, OL, Arizona State
ALEX WHITMAN ‘22, WR, Notre Dame
CEYAIR WRIGHT ‘21, DB, Nebraska
SAM YOON ‘22, OL, UCLA
2025 LOYOLA VARSITY FOOTBALL SCHEDULE AND RESULTS (5-6)
8-22 Cathedral (L 36-14)
8-29 @ Millikan (Long Beach) (W 35-25)
9-5 Mount Miguel (L 21-0)
9-12 @ Hamilton (Los Angeles) (W 42-21)
9-19 St. Francis (W 9-3)
10-3 @ Notre Dame* (L 35-10)
10-9 @Serra* at SoFi Stadium (W 13-10)
10-17 Bishop Amat* (L, 30-14)
10-24 @ Chaminade* (L, 52-0)
10-31 Sierra Canyon* (L, 52-3)
CIF SOUTHERN SECTION DIV. 5 PLAYOFFS
11-7 Newbury Park (W, 17-14)
*Denotes Mission League game
CUBS IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Below is the list of Loyola graduates on college football teams in 2025 according to published collegiate rosters:
JAKE ARELLANO '24, DB, Bentley University
CHAD BAILEY ‘20, DB, Bentley University
BROCK BOJORQUEZ ‘25, DB, Johns Hopkins
COLIN CRUCE ‘22, OL, Bowdoin
KHALIL CUEVA ‘24, WR, University of San Diego
JEFFREY JOHNSON ‘21, TE, Cal
LUKE HARRISON ‘24, OL, University of San Diego
CONNOR KLEIN ‘25, LB, Cornell
SHAWN LIN '22, DL, Columbia
LEIGHTON LINE ‘23, DL, Cal Lutheran
JOSHUA LONG ‘21, TE, Eastern Michigan
TAHJ OWENS '22, DB, Princeton
JACK PARIS '23, DL, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
RYAN QUINTANAR '20, LB, USC
XAVIER RICE ‘23, QB, Duquesne
ISAIAH SANDERS, ‘24, LB, UC Davis
PATRICK SODL ‘22, LB, Columbia
ZAKHARI SPEARS ‘21, DB, Idaho
HENRY STICKLER ‘22, WR, SMU
JACK SUSNJAR ‘23, OL, USC
JOE TATUM ‘22, QB, Texas
SCOTT TAYLOR '25, LB, UCLA
RYAN TURK ‘24, OL, Dartmouth
DESI VALDES ‘25, DB, Pasadena City College
CHAMP WESTBROOKS ‘24, OL, Arizona State
ALEX WHITMAN ‘22, WR, Notre Dame
CEYAIR WRIGHT ‘21, DB, Nebraska
SAM YOON ‘22, OL, UCLA
2025 LOYOLA VARSITY FOOTBALL SCHEDULE AND RESULTS (5-6)
8-22 Cathedral (L 36-14)
8-29 @ Millikan (Long Beach) (W 35-25)
9-5 Mount Miguel (L 21-0)
9-12 @ Hamilton (Los Angeles) (W 42-21)
9-19 St. Francis (W 9-3)
10-3 @ Notre Dame* (L 35-10)
10-9 @Serra* at SoFi Stadium (W 13-10)
10-17 Bishop Amat* (L, 30-14)
10-24 @ Chaminade* (L, 52-0)
10-31 Sierra Canyon* (L, 52-3)
CIF SOUTHERN SECTION DIV. 5 PLAYOFFS
11-7 Newbury Park (W, 17-14)
11-14 @ Bonita
*Denotes Mission League game