San Dimas’ Dylan Ware had over 80 yards on the ground and caught a TD pass. (Photo by Duane Barker).
By Tim Peterson
(Glendora) – San Dimas’ defense rose to the occasion and the offense did enough to beat Bonita 19-8 Saturday night at Citrus College and keep the Smudge Pot in the Saints possession for another year.
San Dimas scored all of its points in the first half and shut out Bonita completely in the second half. The game ended with the Saints on the Bonita five-yard line as they let the clock run out.
San Dimas forced Bonita into two turnovers including a huge one early in the game that set a tone throughout. Leading 6-0 after a 41 -yard touchdown run by Noah Maldonado on the Saints first possession, San Dimas kicked off and Bonita’s Victor Sepulveda took the ball and headed up field. He was hit and the ball popped right into the hands of Chima Mbgarugaru who sprinted 21 yards for a touchdown. The extra point was missed but it was 12-0 and it turned out to be all the points the Saints needed.
Three minutes later the Bearcats picked up their only touchdown of the night as Kenny Coulson hauled in a 28-yard scoring strike from J.P. Andrade. Andrade then hit on a two point pass on the conversion to cut the lead to 12-8.
San Dimas got the score back late in the second quarter. The Saints drove 62 yards on ten plays with Dylan O’Leary hitting the other Dylan – Ware – on an 11-yard touchdown pass for the 19-8 lead. It was the last score of the night.
Bonita twice drove into San Dimas territory in the second half but couldn’t cash in. The Bearcats moved down to the Saint 31 in the third quarter but they were stopped on fourth down. In the fourth quarter they marched down to the San Dimas nine but they missed a 26-yard field goal.
The Saints had opportunities as well. They took over on their own 49 after recovering a Bonita fumble but they went three and out.
The Saints took over with 5:01 left in the contest at the 50 yard line after stopping Bonita and were able to run out the clock.
For San Dimas, Ware had 18 carries for 84 yards and had three receptions for 43 yards and a touchdown. Maldonado had 57 yards and a score on seven carries.
For Bonita Andrade threw for 178 yards and a touchdown.
Next week San Dimas will face Long Beach Wilson at home. Bonita will travel to Santa Fe.
It’s worth noting in this discussion of on-campus recruiting that the Santa Fe Chiefs under Jack Mahlstede consistently fielded large numbers, usually in the range of 260 for all three levels. With Pierson at the controls, those numbers have sharply declined. Not surprisingly, the fortunes of the Chiefs program have taken a dive along with those numbers. It all boils down to a head coach deciding to talk to the kids on campus and to KEEP ASKING the kid to think about playing until they decide to at least give the sport a chance. This isn’t begging, it’s salesmanship. It’s an art that is probably more important than X’s and O’s.
For all the talk about recruiting, about schools like Cathedral, La Mirada, Arcadia, etc, the most important recruiting ground is on campus. Bringing in stars from other schools or cities might put you over the top, but what you do on campus is more important for being consistently good, and it’s a considerably more sustainable approach.
La Serna looks to be about 90% as good as in the Beltran glory years, which indicates that George is recruiting on campus at roughly the same clip that the rotund one did. That, by the way, is the key to the Lancers’ success over the last decade: they somehow persuaded a larger number of qualified kids to play football than did the other Del Rio programs.
Whitmont. Coverage? If you want coverage just come on in and brag about your team and players. You don’t need Pete and Joe to stroke you, do it yourself. That is the beauty of the MVS. Who’s your team in the Whitmont, Monte Vista?
Holman has to be doing back flips since the Podley-Medrano era is history. The Bearcats have talent but can’t seem to progress. The chemistry just ain’t there. San Dimas is ok but they ain’t Glendora and Claremont even had a shocking upset win. Another long season for Bonita faithful?
For those who may wonder, La Costa Canyon defeated La Serna last evening over at Cal High by a score of 34-7. Either of these teams could defeat Bonita or San Dimas, so naturally, MVS ignored the game in Whittier entirely.
From T. Peterson: You just said it was 34-7 La Costa Canyon. Not a whole lot to see there. The Smudge Pot is one of the most popular games of the season and definitely draws the biggest crowd. Way more interest to fans locally. So yes, of course, we went to the Smudge Pot.
I feel sorry for the boys from Bonita, all that talent and no leadership i.e. coaching. I hope the new principal brings back the winning and success they had in the pass. I heard good things about the new principal. The last guy left a mess, softball suspensions, one and done baseball coach, a lot to fix.