San Dimas: 28- Bonita: 21
Friday, September 22nd, 1989
The San Dimas Saints came from behind and were victorious Friday night at the 17th annual Smudge Pot Bowl game, beating Bonita 28-21. The winning touchdown came with 4 minutes left on the clock in the 4th quarter when Jon Reclusado fell on a Chris Romero fumble in Bonita’s end zone. Reclusado’s recovery occurred after a jarring hit by Brian Petree caused the fumble.
“I just thought to fall on it,” Reclusado said. “I just saw it and fell on it.” Petree said the hit he put Romero made up for an earlier mistake. “He tried to break to the outside,” the senior linebacker said. “I didn’t contain him the first time he tried that, and I wasn’t going to let it happen again.”
San Dimas was trailing 21 to 13 with 11:04 left in the game when the Saints drove 61 yards on 11 running plays. Louie Vidaure scored on a seven yard counter play for the touchdown. Quarterback Tyson Stull hit Nicolas Paoletto over the middle with a jump pass for a two-point conversion that tied the game at 21.
Bonita scored on their first possession when Romero found Chris Morgan with a 29 yard touchdown pass to cap a six play drive. San Dimas would tie the game on Matthew Hardings 33 yard touchdown run. The Saints dominated time of possession in the first half running 33 plays to Bonita’s 17 and took a 13-7 lead when Viduare scored on a one yard run early in the second quarter. The Saints were not able to convert the point after because of a fumbled snap.
The Saint’s offense controlled the line of scrimmage with strong blocking and an effective ground game. Viduare gained 100 yards on 17 carries while Harding racked up 120 yards on 14 tries. Stull finished 5 of 17 passes for 69 yards and an interception.
However, the Bearcats took a 21 to 13 lead at the half with two quick scores. Romero engineered a four play drive during the second quarter which culminated in a six-yard pass that was deflected into the hands of Morgan for the touchdown. A failed fake punt resulted in Bonita gaining the ball back at midfield with a minute left in the half. Donny Fuqua broke free for a 43 yard touchdown on the second play of the drive to give the Bearcats the 23-13 edge. Romero completed 7 of 22 passes for 129 yards and Fuqua ran for 121 yards on 12 carries.
In the second half, the Saint’s defense was able to slow down the Bearcats offense. “I really thought we would run better than we did,” Bonita coach Tom Martinez said. “They (San Dimas) did a good job. We got a couple of big plays, but they did a good job of shutting us down.”
Varsity Bearcats
Back: Darren Doherty, Rudy Garcia, Chris Romero, Scott Mabey, Andy Conriquez, Damon Quintana, Miguel Gayton, Miguel Chaffino, Mike Johnson
Row 4: Brian Brinegar, Trevor Mason, David Chavez, Eric Gorman, Mouthikar Long, Tom Contreras, Trent Newlon
Row 3: Peter Lee, Jeff Weider, Steve Dorr, Kayde Willmore, Scott Mc Cook, Nathan Fox, Joel Thornberry, Brandon Cahan
Row 2: Mike Harvey, Mark Farham, Tony Liu, Rusty Enriquez, Jesse Rodriguez, Mark Sanchez, Rich Camerillo
Front: Coach Riggs, Tony Mercado, Dane Hanson, Brian Peters, Chris Gruwell, Chris Morgan, Scott Spicer, Coach Martinez.
Whatever it Takes
Bonita’s Varsity football team had one of its most successful seasons to date. Besides going to CIF, it had an exciting regular season as well, filled with both exciting wins and heart-breaking losses. Either way, every game the team played was guaranteed to be an emotional one. Although their motto was “Team Before Self’, there were some outstanding individual accomplishments as well. Overall, this team was a vast improvement over 1988’s and gave the students a great deal of pleasure to watch them.
This team included some of the best players in the Valley. It had a player in the top five of three offensive categories: passing, receiving, and rushing. Quarterback Chris Romero was the best in the Valley and was the key to Bonita’s victories. Of course, a great quarterback cannot function without a great receiver to catch his passes. They had one in Mike Harvey, the second best receiver, and the player they could count on in the clutch. On the ground, there was Donny Fuqua, who ran his way to being the fifth best rusher in the Valley, and one of the most valuable assets to the team. There were many excellent performances on the line as well, and Chris Morgan was as dependable a kicker as he was anywhere else he played.
Unfortunately, their overall record did not totally reflect their great team play, but to everyone who attended the majority of their games, they realized that this was a team that played as a team. The Varsity football players provided some of the most exciting moments of the year. Regardless of the outcome of their games, they assured their fans of a game in which a great team played with a lot of heart and put out 100% of their full ability.
We Got Spirit
With the arrival of the 90’s came a newfound pride in Bonita High School. Our rallies were more successful than ever, with greater attendance and participation of students enthusiastic about upcoming school activities than the year before. Many of the rallies were for football games to boost students’ spirits. Jackie DeTamble, Varsity cheerleader said, “A lot of people went to games. It was great to see everyone so involved.” At one football game, besides seeing the usual cheerleaders, there were also “yell-leaders” Several juniors joined in the spirit of cheering, and sporting green and white school colors, helped the cheerleaders get the audience involved. Spirit points were also new this year and got each of the classes more involved in our school. Many lunch activities were added this year. Students participated in the activities to help earn spirit points for their class. Also, more apparent of these changes was the new paint job. Finally, our school was no longer an eyesore, full of clashing browns and yellows, but instead, was beautiful green and white. To start off the new decade, school pride was much greater and everyone had a fun year.
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Varsity Saints
Back: Darren Doherty, Rudy Garcia, Chris Romero, Scott Mabey, Andy Conriquez, Damon Quintana, Miguel Gayton, Miguel Chaffino, Mike Johnson
Row 4: Brian Brinegar, Trevor Mason, David Chavez, Eric Gorman, Mouthikar Long, Tom Contreras, Trent Newlon
Row 3: Peter Lee, Jeff Weider, Steve Dorr, Kayde Willmore, Scott Mc Cook, Nathan Fox, Joel Thornberry, Brandon Cahan
Row 2: Mike Harvey, Mark Farham, Tony Liu, Rusty Enriquez, Jesse Rodriguez, Mark Sanchez, Rich Camerillo
Front: Coach Riggs, Tony Mercado, Dane Hanson, Brian Peters, Chris Gruwell, Chris Morgan, Scott Spicer, Coach Martinez.
Sumer and Spring workouts and twelve passing league sessions were necessary to make the varsity squad. But with hard work, persistence, and an unwavering belief in themselves the players made it through the legendary “hell week. “We were a family, all friends,” said senior Jim Miozza.
Working together as a team the Saints kept alive in the pre-season play, though it wasn’t all fun and glory. They started off losing their first pre-league game to Covina, but that didn’t keep them down for long. They came right back and defeated Monrovia the next week. They entered the Smudge pot game with raised spirits, and came out on top with a victory against their arch-rival Bonita. “It was great! We slept on the field after we got the Smudge pot back,” said senior Ernie Stumpf.
But when league started, Injuries fell upon the players and they plummeted into a slump of three successive losses against Bassett, Azusa, and Gladstone which deprived them chances of being league champions.
With determination they recovered and won the game against Pomona. The Saints ended the season on a high point by winning their last league game against Sierra Vista.
“It was a serious memory, said senior Louie Vidaure, when on his birthday one of the three touchdowns he scored was an eighty-yard run against Sierra Vista. The game surely had its high points, but it also had its low points. Senior Tommy Lowery said, “It made me cry,” when he realized it was his last high school football game.
The Saints didn’t make CIF as they had hoped to thus the season ended early; but when it did come to a finish senior Jim Miozza said,
“I wish it never ended; it went by too fast.
Smudge Pot Trophy: Its Back!
Bonita had the Smudge pot for the fifth time in 19 years, and we wanted it back! To advocate stomping out the Bearcats many students wore anti-green badges all week, but they didn’t stop at that. With enthusiastic Saints from all the classes, the assembly anticipating the game successfully promoted school spirit. As usual, upperclass spirit was high, but surprisingly many of the freshmen stood up and showed their true colors, joining the battle of the classes. On September 22, with a score of 28-21, we retrieved it. But that was only after trailing until the third quarter. When the halftime score was 21-13 in favor of Bonita, “I prayed for five minutes straight,” said senior Jai Husband. With determination seniors Louie Vidaure and Jon Reclusado led a strong comeback, and “We dominated the second half.” said junior Matt Harding. They opened the fourth quarter with a long drive for a touchdown to tie the score. When the defense sacked the Bonita quarterback in the end zone Saints recovered the fumble for the final touchdown. “And I left early for a dinner date.” said senior Mary Rose Enriquez, not knowing that we would come back to defeat the Bearcats. “Well, we got it back and that’s all that matters.” said senior Mario Calvo.
Smudge Pot Quotes
"San Dimas responded immediately. and Matthew Harding's 33-yard run tied the score."
Matthew Harding | San Dimas Player, 1989
