Smudge Pot 1997

Friday, November 7, 1997 at San Dimas High School

In the 1997 annual Smudge pot game, the Bearcats defended the pot and beat the Saints 14 to 3. The game belonged to the Bearcats defense because they only allowed 1 field goal in the entire game by B.J. Litchfield in the first quarter. Chris Huson and Brett Johnson rushed for touchdowns to lead Bonita to the victory over San Dimas and enabling the Bearcats to retain the Smudge Pot.

The Saints Quarterbacks Jesse Anderson, and Cory Haygood had  trouble with the Bearcats defense with Haygood passing 3 for 5 and only getting 14 passing yards. Anderson did a little better by going 5 for 10 and getting 56 passing yards. San Dimas struggled stopping Bonita’s Ricci Grant who was in the San Dimas backfield all night. Grant recorded two sacks and also recovered a key fumble in the fourth quarter. The Saints running back, Brian Moses, had a 78 yard run which allowed them to get the field goal in the first quarter.

The Bearcats had a total of 202 yards on the ground with most of the yards coming from Chris Huson who had 132 yards rushing and 1 touchdown. Bonita’s Quarterback, Brett Johnson, only had to throw the ball five times in the whole game with two of them getting them 28 yards. On the Bearcats defensive side, the Saints could not stop Ricci Grant who seemed like he was in the Saints backfield on every play. He had two sacks in the game and also had a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter. Bonita’s first touchdown came in the second quarter after a 11 yard run from Tommy Belin to the Saints 1 yard line which set up a quarterback sneak by Johnson for the score. Bonita score again during the first possession of the second half when Belin ran 8 yards to the one yard line. This time Johnson handed off to Huson for the touchdown.

“Our game plan was to keep them under 14 points and hope we could score more.” Bonita Coach Larry Hatley said. “We knew they had a really good defense.” The Saints troubles were self-inflicted, wracking up 95 yards in penalties. “I think we were tired,” San Dimas coach Ted Clarke said. “I thought our kids played well in sports. I think they worked hard. Obviously, this is very disappointing. This was a very big game for us. It’s a rivalry game. You have to give credit to Bonita, they came out here and took it to use.”

For the rest of the game, Bonita’s defense stopped the Saints from getting a touchdown and won the game 14 to 3 keeping the Smudge Pot. Hatley laughed when asked about the importance of the game while his players were celebrating their victory. “To some people, it’s life or death,” Hatley said. “It’s our biggest rivalry. It’s a lot of fun. This makes next week a whole lot easier.”  Huson the star player of the night for Bonita exclaimed after the game, “It’s huge! It is for bragging rights: it’s an enormous game.”