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Football: Gardena Serra gets an earful from St. Francis

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There were a series of personal-foul penalties called against unbeaten Gardena Serra in the fourth quarter of its 41-14 victory over St. Francis in its Mission League debut Saturday night.

Let’s just say the Golden Knights were not pleased.

The Daily Breeze reported that St. Francis Coach Jim Bonds called Serra ‘a bunch of thugs.’ And Serra Coach Scott Altenberg said a priest was yelling at his team.

On Sunday, Altenberg said a player ‘made a bad play at the end.’

‘I went to apologize and they were upset,’ he said. ‘I don’t think that one hit typifies what we’re about.’

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Bonds also had cooled down on Sunday.

‘I was upset at the end,’ Bonds said. ‘I said, ‘You could win with class or like thugs.’ I wish I could take it back. I was very frustrated. Scott and I were teammates at UCLA. I have a lot of respect for what he’s done with their program.’

What set Bonds off was that St. Francis’ best player, receiver Travis Talianko, took a shot to the head on a play away from the ball that was not spotted by the officials.Talianko had to be helped off the field. Altenberg said the hit was uncalled for and bad judgment.

It was not Serra’s finest performance, except for George Farmer, who caught nine passes for 217 yards and three touchdowns.

-- Eric Sondheimer

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