August 30, 2023

Chat with Coach Bonis #1: Jamboree Review, Madison Prep Preview

by Brother Neal Golden, S.C. (CJ ’57)

"Last Friday night, the Crusaders traveled to Archbishop Shaw High School on the West Bank to play their Jamboree game (two 15-minute halves) against John Ehret. 

After trailing 6-3 at halftime, the Crusaders came alive in the second half, embarking on a long scoring drive to take the lead. The defense pitched a shutout the rest of the way to preserve the 10-6 victory.

Coach Bonis, what was the difference in the second half?

“The whole summer has been crazy. We’re very process oriented, but we have yet to have a full week of practices in pads because of the heat and lightning alerts. If we hope to improve, we have to do things in pads with certain rules set in place. It’s been tough for our guys to get acclimated to the heat. In late July, we looked very good toward the end of camp even though we may have had a total of only three or four padded practices. My hat goes off to our young men, who are doing the best they can in our situation. We played better the second half against Ehret because the first half was like a full practice in pads. 

“We didn’t execute the game plan as well as we wanted the first half. We looked rusty. But we came together better in the second half.”

What specifically did you like in the second half?

“Defensively, we put some things together. We hadn’t done a bunch of tackling in practice and that showed early on. Penalties kept their scoring drive alive – late hits, roughing the quarterback, face mask. There’s no excuse for the defense to be offside.

“We cleaned some things up in the second half. We flew to the ball better and tackled better. Offensively, we had two long drives that kept our defense off the field. In the first half, we moved the football but didn’t finish drives. We left 10 points out there on a missed field goal and failure to finish another drive. Our logistics for signaling plays in got better the second half, and we’ll continue to work on that this week.

“We did a good job of wearing them down the second half. That will be important against Madison Prep this week. They have guys who play both ways.”

How many starters have you lost from last year’s state finals team?

“We lost more than half on offense and more than half on defense. We lost five or six guys who were four-year starters for us, including Brendan LeBlanc and Dakota Berns.

“But it’s exciting too. You’ll see a lot of freshmen and sophomores on the field as we try to develop depth. It’s exciting to be part of their maturation process.”

Are we smaller on defense?

“No, we’re about the same size if not bigger in some spots. We lost LeBlanc and Berns up front as well as our all-time leading tackler, Rylon Johnson.”

Are we smaller on offense?

“No. We returned three offensive linemen as well as tight ends. We lost 90% of our catches and yards with the departure of Clayton Lonardo. He’s difficult to replace from a matchup standpoint. We’re expecting sophomore Donny Lawrence to play an important role in our offense by the end of the season.”

The Crusaders host Madison Prep from Baton Rouge Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. at Tad Gormley. The Crusaders beat them 17-0 in last year’s season opener.

“We were supposed to go there this year, but they play in a city stadium and ran into an issue with stadium rental. So they called and asked if we could play at Tad Gormley. The only date available was Thursday.

“They’re very talented and return a lot of guys from last year. They’re very well coached. They played Central of Baton Rouge evenly in a scrimmage and went toe to toe with Catholic High in the Jamboree, losing 7-6. They have high expectations for this year. Year in and year out, their staff does a great job. We’ll have our hands full. They’re talented in all three phase of the game and have a really good kicker.”

Be in that number at Tad Gormley Stadium Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. to root the Crusaders to victory!"