Football: Gardena Serra gets an earful from St. Francis

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."

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

Comments

[Apprentice]

Eric you were there first hand. Physical game, St.Francis had nothing to lose.As well as welcoming Serra into the Mission league.You would have to expect a chippy game. There is Serra's defense is overlooked for it's physicality I mean correct me if I'm wrong here.

[WOW]

The game was not great but it was good . There was some questionable calls by the refs against Serra. The hit at the end was a clean hit. I do believe they (St. Francis)was not prepared on the fast, hard hitting Serra . Serra was playing to win, If you see the 1st half St Francis was trying to make it a game. At the end the St. Francis coaches were cussing at the Serra coaches. Even the priest , all I can say is WOW.

[Prep Fan]

Serra would go undefeated in DIVISION ONE. Farmer could already be starting at SC.