BONITA: 31 – SAN DIMAS: 21
October 11, 2002
The Bonita Bearcats defeated the San Dimas Saints 31-21, marking their seventh consecutive victory over the latter. With re-leaguing the teams are again in different leagues making the Smudge Pot a non-league game. “The game is beyond league or anything else,” said Bonita coach Eric Podley. “It’s an important win in the community. It’s entrenched. You can’t go to the store without hearing about it. You can’t fill up your gas tank without hearing about.” The rivalry is definitely there,” said San Dimas Coach Roland De Anda.
Local wildfires produced smoke that affected the practice schedules for both schools in the weeks leading up to the game. The gym at Bonita High school was serving as a temporary Red Cross shelter. “We’ve been starting (practices) at 6 p.m. and only doing a walk-through, so there is no aerobic exercise,” said Podley. “We’re also missing several players because their homes might have to be evacuated.” San Dimas also had a light practice schedule for their football team later in the day.
Bonita jumped out to an early 11 point lead, but San Dimas would score 14 unanswered points in the third quarter. Saints quarterback, Phil Bessera completed 10 for 23 passes for 107 yards with two interceptions and made several notable plays. After a fumble by Bonita, Bessera threw a 31 yard touchdown pass to Demetrius Hughes. Later, the Saints’ quarterback would find Ben Knight in the end zone on a one yard pass to put San Dimas up 21-14.
But the Bearcats weren’t a team to back down from a challenge, and they soon scored 17 unanswered points to claim the lead. The last of these points was a valiant fumble recovery by Bearcat’s player, Daniel Arellano with 4:48 left in the final quarter. This seemed to seal the deal for the Saints and the game ended in the Bearcat’s victory. Bonita running back, Tommy Musa would score two touchdowns in the game.
Varsity Bearcats
Bonita Varsity Team
Unknown – not listed in the yearbook.
Making Our Moments
No matter what, win or lose Bonita football always shows their pride. Football is a great memory in high school. No matter what the score, football games are very exciting. With some loses along with all the wins. Bonita players and fans never give up. Winning and losing are often said to be the most important things, but he most defining moments will always be how the game was player.
School spirit is often hard to find, but when it comes to sporting events and rallies you can count of Bonita students to cheer each other on. This year we have a limited amount of rallies, but at every event spirit leaders Lauren taylor and Ashley Weiss tried their best to make their peers proud to be Bearcats. Bonita is different from other school sin that we have rock rallies once a month to honor the sports teams. While at these rock rallies the cheerleaders pump up the crowd, while the sports teams participate in an activity. Thank you to the spirit leaders and cheerleaders’ for making Bonita a school with spirit.
In the weeks leading up to the Smudge Pot that year, a wild fire struck the Los Angeles National forest. This caused many sports to get canceled or postponed, including the Smudge Pot game. Despite this set back, both teams continued to practice for the game following regulations. With re-leaguing the Smudge pot again would not be a league game. However, the rivalry between the schools continued on during the intense game. The game this year was important for Bonita High School as it was also their homecoming game. San Dmas also had pressure as they had a new head coach this year, Rowland DeAnda. Despite the pressure, the Bearcats and the saints tried their hardest during the game. Jay Horn, who rated 9th in overall rating in passing, helped tremendously in the game, allowing the bearcats to earn the victory.
![]()
Varsity Saints
Front: Raymond Picazo, Luis Avarez, Jason Wilis, Jared Banes, Ryan McGil, Curtis Matson, Steven Cable.
Row 2: Chris Flai, Adrian Gonzalez, Jason Chavez, Paul Herrera, Juan Gorzalez, Brandon Maynard, Tyler Stienke, Dario Baryardo, Michael Martinez, Nick Bravo.
Row 3: Assistant Coaches Randy Wiley, David Misch, Mike Fuler, Dan Murray, Head Coach Roland DeAnda, Assistant Coaches Bob Diaz, Gary Sterkel, Jason Knowles, Nakia Jenkins, Rudy Diez
Row 4: Josh Anguiano, Steve Holguin, Sean Suchanek, Chris Posadas, Carlos Monterosa, John Houston, Malcom Shirley, Demetrius Hughes, Darren Jolevet, Malachi Smaley.
Row 5: George Vargas, Anthony Vidales, Jeff Smilor, Brian Parker, Nick Diaz, Brian Richards, Emmett Samaniego, Sean O’ Mahony, Brent Moreno.
Row 6: Michael Rodriguez, John Alsop, Steve Rodriguez, Steven How, Ben Aley, Chris Tumner, Sean Boaz, Freddie Nevarez, Paul Delgado, Andrew Delgado.
Row 7: Jared Siels, Phil Bessera, Bryan Bora, Blake Sterkel, Anthony Porter, Chris Gonzales, Sean Douglas, Kurtis King, Joseph Rubio. Back: John Sichom, J.T. Rentschler, Steve Winkleran, Ben Knight, Robert Dol, Nick Bernie, Matt Anderson, Adam Carmody, Bryan Dragus. Not Shown Mark Suetos
And it’s good
Focused on teamwork and improvement, the varsity team played stronger and more unified than ever. Having a new head coach Rowland DeAnda combined with a mighty effort on each of the players’ parts defined the start of a higher game, a new level of capacity and skills. It was no wonder there were faithful spectators that endured the harsh rain in the flooded bleachers to watch the boys defeat Ganesha on Senior Night. Play by play and game after game, the varsity team put forth their best.
Rather than counting the wins and loses, the team counted progress each time they stepped out onto the field, their game only got better. “It was an proving year, we did a lot better than last year and we got along a lot better…” said junior captain Blake Sterkel. Their connection as a team was really shown by the number of individuals who bothered to attend practices: “We had double or tripe the amount of people at practices: “It showed team unity. We were in it to the end,” said Junior Chris Flaig.
The execution, stamina, and vitality which was carried through the Glendora, Baldwin Park, and Ganesha games, showed the power in unity and strength as one. Ganesha, pouring rain and rolling round in the mud, Senior Night, we were a success.” said senior Bryan Borra “The Glendora game was the best game and the first we played as a team.” said senior Chris Turner. The Glendora game was mentioned frequently despite the 3-point loss, perhaps because Glendora’s prominence as a big-league, Division I School. confirmed that the varsity football team was able to playball with the big boys. “It was a fun year even with only three wins, we came out as a whole;” said senior Bryan Dragus. This was evident throughout their season and their improvement compared to last year was reinstated by their determination and dedication.
-Zaneta Sykes, El Santo ’02
Smudge Pot Quotes
""The San Dimas win was the best because there's so much emotion put into that game and we're rivals,' Williams said. "That's the game you think about all year long. It will stick with me the rest of my life.'"
Mike Williams | Bonita Quarterback, 2004
