Smudgepot Game – A 50 Year Football Rivalry Between San Dimas and Bonita High Schools

Bonita BEARCATS vS San Dimas SAINTS

The 2025 Smudge Pot rivalry at Mt. SAC on Friday, September 12 at 7:00 pm, brings together two teams heading into the game from very different directions. Bonita, last year’s league champion at 11-1, has stumbled out of the gate with an 0-3 start, dropping close contests to Muir and Aquinas while struggling to find consistency on both sides of the ball. Despite flashes of offensive production in the passing game, the Bearcats have yet to establish a balanced attack and will be looking to turn their season around with a statement win against their biggest rival.

San Dimas, meanwhile, enters undefeated at 3-0, leaning on its trademark power running game and a strong defensive front to secure decisive wins over Pasadena, Burbank, and Colony. With leaders like Liam Loyola and Jacob Gallegos emerging in the ground game, the Saints’ physical style poses a major challenge. Both teams understand that records and rankings often fade when the Smudge Pot is on the line, making this year’s matchup an especially compelling clash of a Bonita squad eager to right the ship and a San Dimas team determined to keep its perfect season alive.

The battle for the iconic silver Smudge Pot trophy, a symbol of the cities’ shared citrus history, promises to be a thrilling contest.

This year we are highlighting the games from 1975, 1985, 1995, 2005, and 2015. Bonita has won three of those games in ’75, ’05, and ’15, while San Dimas won the games in ’85 and ’95,
The 1975 was the very first Smudge Pot game won by Bonita as San Dimas dominated the rivalry in the 1970s.
San Dimas has not won the Smudge Pot game since 2017.

Under the games menu review game summaries of all Smudge Pot football games played since 1972.

FIFTY YEARS OF SMUDGE POT FOOTBALL

The year 2022 marks the fiftieth Smudge Pot football game between San Dimas and Bonita High Schools. The game is one of the oldest continuous high school football rivalries in Southern California. In 1972 the mayors of both cities agreed to award a trophy, a chromed smudge pot celebrating their shared citrus traditions, to the winning school. The first game was played on Friday, November 17, 1972 at Bonita Field where the Saints shutout Bonita 33 to 0. The 50th Smudge Pot football game was played on September 10, 2022 with the Bearcats defeating the Saints 21-13.

Former Bonita Unified Players, Coaches Reminisce as Smudge Pot Rivalry Celebrates 50th Anniversary

The atmosphere was electric as scores of supporters wearing face paint and proudly sporting school colors streamed into Citrus College Stadium to celebrate the golden anniversary of the cherished football rivalry between Bonita and San Dimas high schools, known as the Smudge Pot, on Sept. 10.

The 50th installment of the rivalry featured the return of nearly two dozen former Bearcats and Saints players and coaches who participated in the inaugural Smudge Pot game in 1972, who came to reminisce and cheer on their alma maters.

Bonita High School rallied to win the game 21-13 in a highly competitive and emotionally charged defensive struggle that saw seven turnovers, including a San Dimas fumble recovery that led to a touchdown. The competitive spirit on the field was matched in the stands as students and supporters tried to top each other all night, raucously cheering on every play.

The Record

The following messages were written by each school’s principal in the programs celebrating the first “Smudge Pot Bowl” game between Bonita and San Dimas.

Bonita’s PRINCIPAL MESSAGE, 1972

Bonita High School is a school with a great deal of tradition. The school was originally started in a vacant La Verne store building in 1903. On my desk is a trophy which states “Bonita High School Tri-County League Football Champion, 1925.” Athletics has meant a great deal to the history of Bonita. The communities of La Verne and San Dimas have given an unusual amount of support, win or lose, over the past fifty years. Football games in particular have produced what the press has often referred to as the typical Bonita fan. He comes at 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon to an 8:00 p.m. game with blankets, chicken, and a great deal of enthusiasm. The typical Bonita fan has now become the typical Bonita-San Dimas fan. The communities of San Dimas and La Verne each have a high school of their own with which to identify. I am sure the rivalry will be keen. I am also sure that the sportsmanlike tradition which has always been true of the citizens of both communities will continue to exist. Enthusiasm and competition with responsibility are fine things to promote in any high school and in any community. I am sure this new rivalry will be a fine experience for everyone involved.
Sincerely,
Louis E. Rosen,
Principal, Bonita High School, 1972

San Dimas’ PRINCIPAL MESSAGE, 1972

My initial reaction to an invitation from the Bonita Boosters’ Club to write a few paragraphs to be included in this program was to extol the virtues of the first Bonita-San Dimas football game and to mark this as the beginning of a long and friendly rivalry. Some retrospection, however, has led me to think more in terms of competition and how it may affect our total lives, I would like to consider some of the things that athletics have meant to me, and, hopefully, to you as we finish another football season. Through athletics we have learned the value of hard work, dedication, concentration, honesty, and, most importantly, how to accept defeat. Adult persons who find necessary various means of escape in their lives are often those who have not learned to accept defeat. It takes courage to continue to strive and to bounce back after a loss. Remember, “winners never quit . . . quitters never win.” Remember, too, that what YOU do, what YOU are to become is largely dependent upon what YOU expect of YOURSELF!! As we begin a great San Dimas-Bonita football tradition, let us consider the long-range benefits from such a contest!