San Dimas: 19 – Bonita: 8
Saturday, August 26, 2017
Two early touchdowns by San Dimas in the first quarter were enough for the Saints to defeat the Bearcats 19-8 in the annual Smudge Pot rivalry on Saturday night at Citrus College. With back to back victories in the yearly rivalry, the Saints will be keeping the Smudge Pot trophy another year in San Dimas.
Originally the game appeared to be closer than it would later play out to be. The Saint’s Noah Maldonado would give San Dimas a 6 to 0 lead at 6: 41 of the first quarter when he raced 41 yards down the field for a touchdown. Just moments later, the Saints would take a 12-0 lead when Chima Mbgarugaru snatched up a fumbled kickoff return and made it 23 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown.
The Bearcats would finally get on the scoreboard, making it to a score of 12-8 with 3:38 left in the first quarter. This was in part thanks to quarterback J.P. Andrade with his pinpoint 27 yard touchdown pass to Kenny Coulson. A successful two point conversion would give the Bearcats the eight points.
The Saints would increase their lead to 19-8 when quarterback Dylan O’Leary passed to Dylan Ware for a 11-yard touchdown with 3:06 left of the second quarter.
The Saints bend-but-don’t-break style denied Bonita in the final three quarters and held them to 249 yards of total offense. It was noted that as the game progressed quarterback J.P. Andrade appeared to become more flustered. He began the game completing 9 of 16 passes for 143 yards but after midway through the second quarter he only completed five passes out of 19 attempts for 63 yards.
Bonita had several chances to mount a comeback, coming close in many instances only to find themselves with nothing in the end. On the opening drive Bonita would manage to get down to the San Dimas 15-yard line but would be unable to proceed any further failing on a fourth and five attempt. Later Bonita recovered a fumble on a kickoff after their first-quarter touchdown, making it to the Saint’s 19-yard-line, however once again failing to get over the goal line. Later Bonita would have the ball two more times in the first half inside the San Dimas 35 but were once more ineffective in scoring. In the fourth quarter, Bonita would miss a 26 yard field goal because of a low snap.
San Dimas has been known as a “run-heavy” team, although during the first half had a well balanced offense. O’Leary completed 8 of 10 passes for 73 yards in the first two quarters. He finished the game with 10 passes for 85 yards. With the lead in the second half the Saints would go back to primarily running the ball. The Saint’s leading rusher was Ware with 71 yards on 17 carries. Maldonado had 68 yards on eight carries.
Bonita’s offensive leader was their quarterback, who completed 14 of 35 passes for 206 yards. Seth Broussard was the Bearcats leading receiver who caught three passes for 75 yards, including one catch for 45 yards.
In the end, with a score of 19-8, the San Dimas Saints would conclude the game by bringing back home the Smudge Pot for another year, maintaining bragging rights for another year.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune. “San Dimas Beats Bonita for Smudge Pot.” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, 27 Aug. 2017, Online Available.
Tolegian, Aram. “Is San Dimas Football Ready to Open Things up against Rival Bonita?” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, 26 Aug. 2017, Online Available.
2017 Highlight Video
2017 Game Video
Varsity Bearcats
Gavin Nesmith, Seth Broussard, J.P. Andrade, Jarrat DanceKelly, Schuyler Luna-Reeder, J.T. Harris, Gabriel Lemons, Kenny Coulson, Diego Jimenez, Lucas Kelly, Mauricio Mendoza, Ethan Lancaster, Daniel Lopez, Adam Zens, alias Williams, Michael Avila, Joseph Reynolds, Ethan Durham, Brennon Anderson, Zion Longsine, Nathan Otto, Joshua Ferrel, Leo Flores, Michael Musharbush, Vincent Montoya, Ivan Wilson Bey, Matthew Sanchez, Aaron Renfro, Isac Vasquez, Harrison Defoort, Damian Villasenor, Victor Sepulveda, Steven Rojas, Andrew Flores, Gypsy Mideiros, Michael Sandoval, Kyle Nixon, Steven Bustos, Giulian D’angelo, Robert Wences
MEMORIES FOR A LIFETIME
When asked what he likes best about football, John Harris (12) states “) enjoy all of the challenges it presents to me because I grow when I overcome them”. In the game against Riverside Poly Gypsy Llyod-Miderios (12) finds the endzone and scores a touchdown to advance the lead for the Bearcats. Seth Broussard (10) says that “it was such an amazing experience to be on Varsity my sophomore year. Being able to be on the field with my brothers is one thing I will never forget. I’m so grateful that I had amazing people to help me on this awesome journey and I can’t wait for next season.” Varsity had an unforgettable season but most of all they played with Bearcat pride and with good sportsmanship.
In the game against South Hills Kyle Nixon (12) covers the South Hills wide receiver as he runs a route up the field and tries to score. As he makes his way down the field, he must use hi technique to make sure the receiver does not catch the pass from the quarterback. When playing with great coverage the opposing wide receiver should not and does not catch the ball. These boys practice many times a week to perfect their plays that they see from the other teams.
GAME ACTIVITIES
Before the game the Varsity football team enjoys spaghetti dinners and getting ready for the game. When (the Bearcats take the field they storm through the Bearcat banner. This has been a Bonita football tradition for many years. At the end of the game, they come together as a team and join their opponents in a high five to show good sportsmanship. Celebrating a touchdown Gypsy Llyod-Miderios (12) and Diego Jimenez (n) show each other how proud they are. Diego Jimenez says that” this season has definitely made me a better player by teaching me to fight against adversity and over come the odds.” Gypsy Llyod-Miderios then states that “I am so proud of our team we dealt with many hard ob- stacles that were thrown at us this season, and all it did was make us grow and the brotherhood we created will keep us, together for a lifetime. They became brothers.
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Varsity Saints
Andres Bernal, Arturo Placencia, Noah Coleman, Anthony Cobo, Andrew Johnston, Nick Sotelo, Arturo Orozco, Dylan Sanchez, Adrian Flores, Fred Salazar, Jacob Logan, Benny Torres, Ryan Bulick, Chima Mbgarugaru, Christopher Diaz, Chazz Vela, Pablo Donoso, Jacob Richards, Mark Warf, Sebastian Street, Daniel Arredondo, Kyler Moreli, Thomas, Dylan Ware, Blake Kelly, David Morquecho, Govan Wike, Dylan O’Leary, Joey Thomas, Damian Diaz, John Egan, Thomas, James Huey, Austin Rivera, Zander Gasso, Andre Zarate, Bleu Wallace, Adrian Flores, Nichlas Sloan, Nicolas Cuda, Jacob Buccola, Conner Cervantes, Billy Hennessy, Ryan Branconier, Arturo Plascencia, Danny Reta, Dylan Arriaga, Nicolas Guerra, Chima Mbaruguru, Austin Rivera, Keniko Parham, Matt Sloan, Ryan Pastran, Jacob Norrie, Aiden Phipps, Paul Boutros, Zach Goodrich, Kastor Hinson, Noah Maldonado
It’s no big secret that the Friday night football games are a school-wide favorite for all the saints – staff, students, alumni, and incoming Saints! The stadium is a great place to hang out with friends, catch up and watch some football; students always look forward to the Friday night tradition. Although the boys didn’t make it as far as they wanted to this season, they still qualified for the first round of the CIF championship. Blood, sweat, and tears were left on the field while the boys played their hardest to get that far, and even though they only made it to the first round it was still a season to remember. Captains Dylan Ware, Noah Maldonado, Jacob Richards, Dylan O’Leary and Danny Reta all agree that football season is their favorite of the whole school year. Danny says, “I loved spending time with the team every day during practices and during the games, listening to music in the locker room before each game to get all hyped up. ” All the boys share a close bond with each other on and off the field and they have a strong reliance on one another in order to make sure they win their games. Although the Smudge Pot win this year was a great one, the boys had many other memorable performances from this season, like winning their first home game or beating the Northview Vikings and breaking their 20 game winning streak. From early practices on Saturday mornings to late nights on weekdays, the boys trained long and hard to reach their full potential. They gained strength, experience, and learned some important life lessons as hardworking and motivated individuals.
by Alicia Schrock El Sanyo, 2018
I believe that we will win
Varsity Football keeps the smudge pot at Home
As we all know, the Smudge Pot game is the most important game of the series, and it just so happens to be the very first game. We all enjoy something different about the game, whether it’s cheering in the student section and throwing baby powder, or getting aggressive on the field. Cheer captain Alyssa Nitinthorn enjoys “the insane energy of the crowd and players” that she will “never forget”. However, the best part of the entire game is the fact that we succeeded in keeping the Smudge Pot where it belongs. Our varsity football team honored our school and had an impressive victory, defeating the Bonita Bearcats. Sebastian Street describes the night as “an amazing experience, because there is no better feeling than beating your rival team in front of hundreds of fans.” While the students in the crowds chanted “Let’s go SD!” Our boys were hard at work on the field, making critical plays to stop the Bearcat’s offense, and also scoring touchdowns.
The game concluded with the Saints winning, 19 to 8. Chima Mbaruguru described his feelings after the game as grateful because he “finally stepped out of the shadow of prior year’s victories and had won something” for himself and his team. The football players made us proud by giving it their absolute all on the field that night. Their dedication and hard work showed through in this victory and made it all worth it. Smudge Pot is such an important tradition, and our players did not let us down, but instead showed off our talent and capabilities. Kieran Huyuhn recalled that one of the best parts of the game was “rushing the field after we won, surrounded by friends, and people we didn’t know, all celebrating with one team for one win.” This was the moment where we realized being a Saint will be with us forever.
El Santo, 2017 for San Dimas
Smudge Pot Quotes
""I wouldn't be doing my job if there weren't going to be some tweaks and some tricks, We did really well over the summer on the passing circuit. I feel good about how we can spread the ball out. I'll just leave it at that.""
Mark Holman | San Dimas coach, 2017
