Football: Brandon Dawkins can carpool with St. Bonaventure players

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Oaks Christian quarterback Brandon Dawkins lives in Oxnard and knows many of the players at Ventura St. Bonaventure. That’s why Friday night’s Marmonte League championship game at Oaks Christian is more than just for a league title. It’s for bragging rights.

Last season, Dawkins twice was the winning quarterback against the Seraphs. And oh did it feel good.

But on Friday, it will a hungry, fired up St. Bonaventure team that with a victory could be the No. 1 seed for the Pac-5 Division playoffs in its first season after playing in the Northern Division.

Both schools have lost only once. Oaks Christian was beaten by Crenshaw in a game that saw Dawkins intercepted five times. St. Bonaventure lost to Santa Margarita in a game that went down to the final minutes.

This will be the start of a stretch of games that will test the mental and physical strengths of both schools. There are no more easy opponents. In the Pac-5, it’s one test after another, and the team that emerges as champion will have done so by getting surprise performances out of unsung players.

-- Eric Sondheimer