BONITA: 28 – SAN DIMAS: 14
September 11, 2021 at Covina District Field
It has been nearly two years since local rivals, Bonita and San Dimas, have competed in a Smudge Pot game due to COVID-19. The Saints, led by coach Mark Holman, and the Bearcats, led by coach Steve Bogan, returned to the football field in September of 2021 to compete for the Smudge Pot trophy. Bonita had the more balanced offense throwing for 176 yards and rushing for 143 while San Dimas passed for just 43 yards while rushing for 188. Bonita scored two touchdowns in the first half and then pulled away in the second to defeat San Dimas 28-14.
San Dimas tied the game 7 -7 at the end of the first quarter with a 70 yard drive as Teyondre Coleman completed a 20 yard touchdown pass to Shawn D’Amato. Unfortunately for their Saints, Bonita responded with a 65-yard possession ending with a 4 yard touchdown rush by Kalim Mihail.
After performances from D-Street and Bonita’s marching band at half-time including renditions of “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes and “Take on Me” by A-ha, the Bearcats would score two touchdowns making the score 28-7. Daniel Andrade threw touchdown passes of 1 and 27 yards to Isaiah Portillo with 5:58 left. The Saints scored a touchdown in the final 1:25 of the game, updating the scores to 28-14. “This is a huge game for both communities,” Bonita coach Steve Bogan said of La Verne and San Dimas.
San Dimas aggressively went after Bonita from the start of the game with Coach Holman prepared to use several trick plays to in order to claim the Smudge Pot for his seniors. “We fought hard and scored at the end. I wanted to onside kick, but we weren’t able to execute it,” Holman said. At the start of the game the Saints executed a double pass for 11 yards and later tried a fake punt on fourth and 21 that just came up short. “We didn’t want to leave anything out there,” Holman said. “We work really hard on special teams. The fake was there, we just had a couple of guys miss blocks. But after that, our defense stopped them anyway.”
Despite the outstanding effort of the Saints, the Bearcats retain the Smudge Pot for another year.
Smudge Pot Pre Game Predictions
2021 Smudge Pot Game Video
2021 Smudge Pot Game highlights
Varsity Bearcats
Rayden Sherman, Joshua Kim, Nathan Alfaro, Lorenzo Anaya, Lucas Kim, Dominic Bartolotti, Kevork Markossian, Parker Smith, Christopher Jimenez, Harry Zhou, Juan Zavala, Evan Arnal, Sebastian Palillo, Hector Bahena, Carter Alba, Clifford Clancey, Aj Cervantes, Isaiah Portillo, Connor Milici, Jake Reyes, Conrad Parra, Ray Gonzalez, Juan Bermudez, Luke Smith, Greg Escobedo, M Fidone, Joshua Hair, Jacob Meza, Ethan Amoroso, J Rasmussen, Ryder Cadam, Pesantes, Devon Flynn, Hernaldo (nathan)escobar, Eric Lopez, Joseph Parra, Kristian Sarraf, Trevor Bates, Dominic Flores, Elia Shahine, Thomas Quezada, Thomas Cowan, Kalim Mikhail, Trevor Cadam, Samuel Valdez, Dominick Villasenor, Jordan Kahlan, Adrian Villalpando, David Cruz, Daniel Andrade, Noah Mikhail, Micah Tofilau, Nick Charette, Nicholas Charette, Matthew Fidone, Jing Sun, Xavier Nonas-truong, Hernaldo Escobar, Elia Rosales, Storm Palala, Bryan Bradshaw, Jack Merrill, Emerson Peters, Antonio Cervantes, Anthony Tapia, Justin Robinson, Jonathan Salazar, Michael Vera, Bryan Kessler, Kaden Paddock, Nicholas Gilson, Shane Fonseca, Chase Chute, Hunter Grosenbach, Dominic Avelar, David Lavigne, Do Fortunati, Connor Sarraf, Domenic Flores, Jacob Cordova, Andrew Benavidez, Patrick Dabney, Jon Coulson, Jamer Fleury, Connor Spina
HOMETOWN SHOWDOWN
In exciting return of the Smudge Pot Game, the Bonita Bearcats and the San Dimas Saints renewed their long- standing rivalry on Saturday, September 11, at Covina District Field. The game began with a moment of silence to honor the victims of September ll on the twentieth anniversary of the tragedy. Members of each branch of the military were recognized and honored for their service. The Bearcats defeated the Saints 28-14 to win their third consecutive Smudge Pot title as an electric crowd of over 6000 people from both communities filled the stands. It felt great to score two winning touchdowns and to take it San Dimas, said senior wide receiver Isaiah Antunez-Portillo (12).
Bearcat Seniors
The Bonita Bearcat Seniors celebrate their third victory over San Dimas. The Smudge Pot has remained in Bonita’s office for their entire high school careers. The 2022 Seniors are Ethan Amoroso, Evan Arnal, Trevor Cadam, Aj Cervantes, Chase Chute, Jacob Cordova, Greg Escobedo, Matthew Fidone, Devon Flynn, Shane Fonseca, Frankie Gomez, Ray Gonzalez, Hunter Grosenbach, Bryan Kessler, Eric Lopez, Jack Merrill, Kalim Mikhail, Xavier Nonas-Truong, Se- bastian Palillo, Diego Pesantes, Isaiah Antunez-Portillo, Justin Robinson, Connor Sarraf, Kristian Sarraf, Luke Smith, Sam Sun, Juan Zavala, and Harry Zhou.
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Varsity Saints
Dj Williams, David Piedra, Francisco Camarena, Drew Fiarro, Caleb Ogden, Mike Afif, Brian Freeland, Keegan Ramirez, Dylan Barriaga, Jairus Torres, Roque Dominguez, Julian Segura, Russell Le, Christopher Brand, Nathan Rodriguez, Raymond Oviedo, Brian Jackson, George Garcia, Mark Cooley, Kingston Curtis, Ryan Perry, David Guerrero, Blake St.Julian, Hunter Peterson, Jesse Samec, Decker Degraaf, Marcos Young-bowers, Josue Loeza, Jeffrey Herrera, Troy Mejia, Teyondre Coleman, Dylan Trujillo, Dylan Lozano, Abel Godinez, Donovan Morrison, Caleb Morquecho, Jason Lozano, Brennen Valdivia, Mathias Uribe, Noah Acevedo, Carlos Alvarez, Jason Oxon, Elias Loeza, Brennen Valdivia, Isaac Lobato, Ryan Kodama, Julian Vigil, Shawn D’amato, Jojo Fierro
San Dimas Camp Chronicles: 2021
San Dimas Camp Chronicles: Smudge Pot 2021
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Smudge Pot Quotes
"In a lot of ways, Smudge Pot is the biggest event of the season. It’s unlike anything else, with all the people from both cities who come together to fight for the Smudge Pot. The Smudge Pot is an iconic piece of our history that was used many years ago, and it’s cool how we’re still using it today."
Ghassan Azizeh | Bonita Student
