By JEFF STAHLHUT

For the Call

Those who watch the Lindbergh High School football team this fall will notice a few things right away.

They will see a very talented football team full of seniors and players who had the honor of playing in the Class 6 Show-Me-Bowl last season. They will notice a lot of great fans, lots of enthusiasm and a very good crop of coaches.

As the games get going, they will notice something about the Lindbergh quarterback, Brock Bond. Bond, a senior, will display uncanny strength, a strong throwing arm and the ability to beat his opponents with the pass and the run. He will show maturity, and he will show leadership.

For these reasons and more, according to his coach, he is a special player on both the football and baseball field.

“His leadership and maturity levels are very good,” said Tom Beauchamp, Flyers football coach. “Having Brock back with all of his experience is such a weapon. He can run, he can throw and wants to have the ball when it’s time to make something happen.”

With so many other players returning from the Flyers state-finals team, expectations for Bond and his teammates are going to be very high, and they are aware of that. “We’re going to have a target on our back this season,” Bond told the Call. “But we’re excited. We know we won’t be sneaking up on anyone this year. We know what it takes to get to the top, and this year we won’t always be the underdog.”

Beauchamp agrees, but knows the team can handle it with the senior quarterback running the show. “Brock has a motor that does not quit,” he said. “He is an intense competitor, he is hard-nosed and is a leader in that huddle. He’s the general out there and in control, and has the potential to do as good or better as he did last year.”

Last year, as Beauchamp noted, was a special season for Bond as he threw for 2,100 yards and ran for nearly 500 more.

Bond points out his schoolmates and teammates when talking about his success.

“Our school is very supportive and that helps to make it fun,” Bond said. “Some of us have been playing football together since the seventh grade, and that has helped us have great chemistry. Everyone seems to know what everyone else is doing.”

If the Flyers are going to make it back to the Class 6 Show-Me-Bowl in 2003, they know it’s going to take skill, luck and a healthy squad. Beauchamp, for one, is glad to have Bond on his side heading into the battle to get back. “He is like a coach on the field,” he said. “He does not shy away from a tough spot, and he is a guy you want on your side.”

Bond, meanwhile, has more on his mind than just football. He is also an accomplished baseball player and could have the opportunity to play at big-time colleges when the time comes. When asked which sport he will choose, Bond is diplomatic.

“I will probably have to make a decision on football or baseball, because it would be difficult to do both in college, but it will be tough to let one go.”

In other words, the jury still is out on the quarterback who hit .328 with 16 RBI for his high school baseball team last spring.

Whatever he does, you can count on him working hard at it both on the field and in the classroom. “He is a good student, and you can see him being a leader in the school, too,” Beauchamp noted. “What he does on the field is a microcosm of what he is. He has a balance that is hard to find in a high school student.”

In the upcoming football season, Bond will have a chance to showcase his physical talents to those in the stands, while using his ability to both play the game and lead his teammates to help the Flyers enjoy more success on the field. Then, a couple of months later, he’ll do it all over again on the baseball diamond before his senior year comes to an end and he will have to make a decision on what to play in college. “I’m just not sure right now between football or baseball,” he said.

With his senior year still ahead of him, there still is some time left to decide. One thing that you can count on is that whatever he chooses, he will pursue it with the fire that has helped create his success on both fields so far.