2026 Smudge Pot Game
The 2026 Smudge Pot rivalry returns to Hilmer Lodge Stadium at Mt. SAC on Friday, September 11, with kickoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Bonita and San Dimas once again meet for one of the San Gabriel Valley’s longest-running high school football traditions, with the silver Smudge Pot trophy and another year of local bragging rights at stake.
This year will be San Dimas’ designated “home” game at Mt. SAC. San Dimas fans will sit on the west side of the stadium, while Bonita fans will be seated on the east side.
Since the series began in 1972, the rivalry has produced memorable games, dominant stretches by both schools, close finishes, and generations of players who have taken part in a tradition shared by the neighboring communities. Records and expectations often take a back seat when Bonita and San Dimas meet, and the 2026 game adds another chapter to a rivalry now in its sixth decade. Bonita enters this year’s matchup having held the Smudge Pot since San Dimas last won the rivalry game in 2017.
A New Era at San Dimas
The 2026 game also marks a new chapter for San Dimas football. Dylan O’Leary, a San Dimas High School alumnus, math teacher, and former Saints quarterback, takes over as head coach following the successful 11-year tenure of Mark Holman. At 25, O’Leary is the youngest head football coach in the San Gabriel Valley. Before returning to San Dimas, he spent four years as the offensive coordinator at South Hills High School and has introduced a spread offense while assembling an experienced coaching staff.
O’Leary also has a unique connection to the current Smudge Pot streak. As San Dimas’ quarterback in 2017, he helped lead the Saints to a 19-8 victory over Bonita, the most recent San Dimas win in the rivalry. Bonita has won every Smudge Pot played since, giving O’Leary the opportunity to try to end a streak that began the year after he helped bring the trophy back to San Dimas as a player.
O’Leary succeeds Mark Holman, whose 11 seasons as head coach included sustained success and no losing seasons. Holman’s teams helped shape one of the most competitive eras in the history of the rivalry, and his impact on San Dimas football extended well beyond the Smudge Pot itself. You can read our tribute to his career here: Mark Holman: 11 Years Leading the Saints.
The transition from Holman to O’Leary gives the 2026 Smudge Pot an added historical dimension, connecting one of the most successful coaching eras in San Dimas history with a new head coach who once took the field in this rivalry himself.
Both teams enter the 2026 game 3-0, adding another layer to O’Leary’s first Smudge Pot as a head coach.
Anniversary Games
This year, SmudgePotGame.com is highlighting five anniversary games from the rivalry’s history: 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006, and 2016. Spanning 40 years, the five games tell part of the larger story of a rivalry that has repeatedly shifted between periods of San Dimas and Bonita success.
The first of this year’s anniversary games came in 1976, when San Dimas defeated Bonita 26-7 in the fifth Smudge Pot game. The teams were tied 7-7 at halftime after Bonita quarterback Sanford Coggins connected with Rich Doyle for a 27-yard touchdown on the final play of the half. San Dimas took control after halftime behind Perry Aris and Bob Pleasant. Aris intercepted Coggins early in the second half, while Pleasant helped power a Saints rushing attack that eventually pulled away for the victory. San Dimas went on to win the Hacienda League championship and reach the CIF semifinals that season.
Ten years later, the 1986 Smudge Pot became memorable for more than the result on the field. San Dimas built a 13-0 lead before Bonita mounted a late comeback. With less than two minutes remaining, Bearcat running back Sam Bonanno broke through several tackles for a 42-yard touchdown, but the Saints held on for the victory. At halftime, Bonita legend and 1946 Heisman Trophy winner Glenn Davis was honored as the Bearcat Bowl was officially renamed Glenn Davis Stadium. The night connected the modern rivalry to one of the greatest athletes in Bonita High School history.
The 1996 game marked the beginning of one of the most significant runs in Smudge Pot history. Bonita defeated San Dimas 19-7 under first-year Bearcat head coach Larry Hatley. That victory launched a school-record seven consecutive Smudge Pot wins from 1996 through 2002. Bonita would ultimately win 10 of the 11 rivalry games played between 1996 and 2006, transforming the balance of a series that San Dimas had dominated during many of its early years.
That remarkable Bonita run was still going strong when the teams met again in 2006. The final score, Bonita 35, San Dimas 14, makes the game appear more one-sided than it actually was. Jeff Chavez scored twice on the ground and connected with Sean Vasquez for a seven-yard touchdown pass that gave Bonita a 21-14 halftime lead. San Dimas nearly tied the game just before halftime, driving inside Bonita’s 10-yard line, but the clock expired after Danon Palmer was stopped in bounds near the goal line. Bonita took control in the second half and won the Smudge Pot for the third consecutive year.
The most recent anniversary game came in 2016, when San Dimas reclaimed the trophy with a 42-14 victory at Citrus College, ending Bonita’s three-year hold on the Smudge Pot. Senior Jarrell Sykes delivered one of the standout individual performances in the rivalry’s recent history, finishing with 231 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns. He rushed for 187 yards and caught a 44-yard touchdown pass on the Saints’ third play of the game. San Dimas finished with 424 rushing yards, controlling the game on the ground and bringing the trophy back to San Dimas.
Taken together, these five games illustrate how the rivalry has changed from generation to generation. San Dimas controlled much of the early history of the Smudge Pot, Bonita produced a record-setting stretch beginning in the late 1990s, and both programs have continued to create memorable performances and moments in the decades since.
The 2026 Smudge Pot gives another generation of Bearcats and Saints the opportunity to add its own chapter to that history.
The Smudge Pot trophy itself remains a reminder of the communities’ shared citrus heritage. In 1972, the mayors of La Verne and San Dimas agreed to award a chromed smudge pot to the winner of the annual football game, recognizing the citrus groves that once defined both communities. What began as a local trophy has become the enduring symbol of more than five decades of football between Bonita and San Dimas.
Visit the Games menu to explore summaries, photographs, rosters, season histories, and game details from Smudge Pot football dating back to 1972, including this year’s five featured anniversary games and the players, coaches, and moments that have shaped the rivalry.
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!
Sincerely,
Edward J. Weber, Ph.D.,
First Principal, San Dimas High School, 1972