Youngest Bona Brother Bringing Successful Conclusion to Family QB Legacy
By
Tim Robinson
Special for MHSAA.com
October 15, 2021
PINCKNEY — Senior Jimmy Bona is the third of four boys in his family to play quarterback at Pinckney. As the youngest, with twin brothers 10 years older, his introduction to football came in the front yard of the Bona home.
And it was what you’d expect.
“It started in our front yard,” said Dominic, the first of the three sons, who later became a standout quarterback at Albion College. “Joe was 8 and Jimmy was 6. We used to beat up on them.”
“They did not go easy on us,” said Joe, who played quarterback his senior season in 2019 and now is a finance major at Michigan State. “They made us way more tough, mentally and physically. They made us who we are today.”
These days, Dominic, a starter in 2011-12, and Joe both help mentor their brother – Dominic from his home in the Denver area and Joe from East Lansing.
“I watch a little film here and there,” Dominic says. “I give them tips on coverages and footwork. I started with Joe and now going to Jimmy. He’s doing a great job.”
Jimmy Bona has completed 58 percent of his passes for 674 yards and 11 touchdowns versus only two interceptions, as the Pirates (5-2) finished play in the Southeastern Conference White in second place with a 4-1 record.
He’s the youngest of Tony and Jackie Bona’s six children total, which includes two sets of fraternal twins. Dominic and Mitch, a former Pinckney hockey player who now is an Army Ranger; sister Allison; and Joe and Rachel, who is a member of the Grand Valley State University dance team.
It’s a close-knit family, and the three older kids were frequently each assigned one of their siblings to keep an eye on when on expeditions outside the home.
It was definitely a football family, for the most part, according to Jackie.
“Jimmy was born in September,” she said. “I was at Dom’s game with Jimmy, a week later. I can’t tell you how much we’ve enjoyed the process. We’ve been doing this for so long. We moved here when Mitch and Dom were in the second grade. I’ve had a kid in football for 20 years.”
The older brothers always included their younger siblings in whatever games were being played in the front yard.
“It was a rough house to live up to,” Jimmy said. “They taught me a bunch of stuff, like life lessons. My parents weren’t in the house much because they were working, so (my brothers) kind of raised me and made me who I am today. I can’t thank them enough.”
The front yard football field used the Bonas’ driveway and a neighbor’s as end zones.
“You didn’t want to get tackled in the end zone,” Dominic said, laughing. “You might hit a mailbox, too.”
The kids played indoors when the weather was bad, with results you also might expect.
“We only recently got furniture in the front room,” Jackie said. “We finally painted and put furniture in a few years ago.”
These days, the Bonas are still a close family, keeping in touch with a family chat while Dominic and Joe do what they can to help Jimmy during his senior season.
“I text him every week,” Dominic says. “At the beginning of the week, I remind him to get his mind right, and on Friday morning I tell him to get into the zone, try and get his head right.”
The family gets together whenever it can, including last weekend, when Dominic and Mitch returned for Pinckney’s homecoming win over Ypsilanti Community. Joe, meanwhile, has attended all but one of the Pirates’ games this season.
Jimmy, in at least one measure, is no longer the little brother.
“When I got taller than my older brothers, I got way happier,” Jimmy said, grinning.
There’s a little sense of the bittersweet with the Bonas as Jimmy completes his high school journey.
“Some of these kids have been playing together since the first grade,” Jackie said. “It’s been a lovely experience I’ll never forget. It’s been amazing. But it’s never been this quiet at our house, ever. I can’t believe it’s almost over. When they say the days are long and the years are short, it’s true.”
Pinckney coach Rod Beaton was an assistant when Dominic played for the Pirates a decade ago, and coached both Joe and Jimmy Bona on the Pirates varsity.
“Unfortunately, there are no more Bonas in the pipeline,” Beaton said, laughing. “But I will tell you, they’ve set a precedent.”
PHOTOS (Top) Pinckney quarterback Jimmy Bona works to pull away from a defender during his team’s Week 2 game against Harper Woods. (Middle) Jimmy, middle, gets plenty of support from older brothers Dominic (left) and Joe. (Top photo by Quintin Love Jr.; middle photo courtesy of Jackie Bona.)
Quick Study Central Lake Clinches 1st Title
November 18, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
MARQUETTE – Central Lake may not have been totally sure what it got itself into switching to 8-player football heading into this fall.
Clearly it didn’t take the Trojans long to figure things out.
A year after finishing 2-7 with 11 players on the field, Central Lake finished Saturday afternoon at the Superior Dome with its first football championship, downing Deckerville 32-30 in the inaugural 8-Player Division 1 Final.
The championship was the first for the school in any MHSAA tournament sport since claiming the Class D softball title in 1980. The Trojans also finished 13-0 this fall.
“Last year it was not even something. Or just growing up, you’re watching the Finals on TV … ‘I’m never going to be there,’ but it’s cool to watch,” Central Lake senior quarterback Gavin Mortensen said. “You dream about it. And then all of a sudden, you’re a state champion. It’s crazy.”
And so was the finish, as Mortensen put his team ahead to stay on a six-yard touchdown run with 2:49 to play. Central Lake came back from 10 points down with under a minute to play in the third quarter, riding a powerful running game to the final two of four rushing touchdowns on the day, while also halting two Deckerville fourth-quarter drives that reached the Trojans’ 21-yard line.
“Those get your heart pumping, don’t they, those stops? But what a great way to win,” Central Lake coach Rob Heeke said.
Junior running back Grant Papineau went over 2,000 yards rushing for the season, adding 183 for a final total of 2,067 while also rushing for his 26th touchdown of the fall. Junior Skyler Spangler had 101 yards and two scores on the ground to finish the season with 1,753 yards and 28 touchdowns rushing.
Mortensen, in addition to running the show, made it count when his number was called, adding a 49-yard touchdown pass to senior Jayce Hoogerhyde. And Hoogerhyde, who had 15 pass break-ups as a defensive back entering the game, made an equally significant play on that side of the ball batting down Deckerville’s final pass into the end zone.
Those are the guys who got most of the attention during the perfect run. But a most unlikely contributor deserved his share as well Saturday. Junior center Dalin Clark (6-foot, 265 pounds) left the game with an injury near the end of the first half. In came sophomore Vance Hoeksema (5-6, 140), who had played that position only a couple of times this fall. But the Central Lake attack just kept rolling.
“We just kinda rallied around Vance, and he did a great job,” Mortensen said. “After we got the first few bad snaps out of the way, exchange-wise, he did really well.
Guys on the line picked him up and told him what to do if he didn’t know, and it worked out.”
Hoogerhyde said it wasn’t until a 14-point Week 8 win over Onekama – that clinched for the Trojans the Midwest Central Michigan Conference championship – that he and his teammates started to realize what they might be capable of accomplishing this fall.
Deckerville had been to this level before, winning the 8-player championship in 2012 and finishing runner-up to two-time champion Powers North Central a year ago. That the Eagles (11-2) returned to the final game Saturday was impressive though, considering they replaced nearly their entire backfield from a year ago and then didn’t have injured leading rusher Cruz Ibarra for the last two games.
Senior Kenton Bowerman ran for 83 yards and also caught three passes for 93 yards and a score in the Final. Sophomore quarterback Isaac Keinath threw for three scores total.
“We’d love to win that state championship, but I think we overachieved maybe a little bit,” Deckerville coach Bill Brown said. “They really came together as a team midway through the season and as a head football coach, when you watch your kids and they come together and they’re playing as a team, and you’re getting those selfless acts … we have kids giving just everything they have out there. When you’re a coach, that’s all you ask for.
“I’m disappointed in the outcome of course. That doesn’t define this football team. We could play that game again, and we might win by two touchdowns.”
Spangler had 15 tackles, Mortensen 14, Papineau 13 and senior Dylan Michael 12 for Central Lake. Junior Curtis Vogel had 20 tackles and senior Wyatt Janowiak had 15 for the Eagles. Senior Zach Ostrowski also caught a touchdown pass, and senior Brendan Hadley ran for a score.
The MHSAA Playoffs are sponsored by the Michigan Army National Guard.
PHOTOS: (Top) Central Lake quarterback Gavin Mortensen begins to turn the corner on the way to scoring the go-head touchdown Saturday. (Middle) Deckerville’s Wyatt Janowiak hauls in a third-quarter touchdown pass over the tight coverage of Jayce Hoogerhyde. (Photos by John Johnson.)