Egg Bowl football game between Casa Grande, Petaluma returning this fall

Sometimes a little time and fresh perspective can reverse a negative situation.

The Egg Bowl, a longtime crosstown Petaluma football rivalry, is returning for the first since 2011, when it was halted after several ugly incidents between opposing players on the field and adults off the field.

The Petaluma-Casa Grande game is scheduled for Sept. 16 in a Saturday afternoon contest at Casa.

But it won't be just an average football game, or even a typical rivalry game, Petaluma City Schools Superintendent Gary Callahan said.

It is hoped that the new tradition will become a family-friendly, community-focused daylong event that encourages camaraderie instead of divisive rivalries.

“We talked about what this could be moving forward,” he said. “We want this to be a celebration for the entire community, for all the great things happening at both schools.

“We're really putting an emphasis on it being a community Egg Bowl. It's an opportunity for our student-athletes to also give back to the community.”

The annual series between the two Petaluma high schools dates to 1974. It was dubbed the Egg Bowl in 1993.

Six years ago, it was stopped after district administrators perceived increasing tensions from a game that became notorious for 19 penalties, reported racial epithets and cursing between opposing players.

In 2012, Casa Grande joined the North Bay League while Petaluma remained in the Sonoma County League, meaning the teams weren't required to play each other every year.

In 2014, there was discussion of resuming the game, but it didn't fit into the two-year scheduling matrix.

“It's the only sport where we don't have both ... high schools playing each other,” Callahan said. “It just seemed like it was time to revisit that. We started the process this year talking with all the parties.”

Petaluma coach Rick Krist welcomed the return of a game he'd played in as a high school student.

“We wanted to bring it back for several reasons. One is that the kids really wanted it, and it's really about the kids,” he said.

“We felt like the football program needed a little spark, something to get a little excited about around campus. And maybe we'll get more kids coming out to play football.”

Callahan, hired to lead the district in July 2015, said he reviewed the Egg Bowl history and the negativity surrounding the 2011 game that included so many penalties, a few cheap shots and unsportsmanlike conduct by some adults.

“It sure appeared to me that it was more the adults in the environment that were creating more problems than the youths - the adults not being our head coaches; they were not part of the problem at all,” he said. “It took a life of its own.”

Krist and then-Casa coach Trent Herzog almost were able to bring the game back in 2014, but administrators balked.

They talked about bringing back the traditional team dinner both schools would participate in, although the players segregated themselves into different sides of the room.

They also discussed the players working together on a community benefit project that week - like volunteering side-by-side in the city's soup kitchen.

Many Petaluma athletes have grown up playing with or against their friends from the other school in Pop Warner football, Little League baseball, youth soccer or basketball. To have that end in high school football left a void.

Even in 2014, Krist and Herzog argued the game should be less of an east-west rivalry and more of “a Petaluma thing.”

That's what Callahan and Krist envision now.

“We see it being an integrated thing, not Casa doing one thing and Petaluma doing another,” Callahan said. “We want something where the players come together.

“There's so much that the community does year in, year out for the kids. This is an opportunity for the kids to give back to the community.”

Student bodies at each school likely will organize much of the event, expected to include service projects and a fair-like atmosphere before the game with informational booths about community businesses and fun events for little kids, Callahan said.

“Possibly a car show ... a variety of different things to get people to an event and a football game breaks out,” he said. “We want the students to be part of what it looks like. It's an opportunity, especially for the seniors.”

Krist and new Casa coach Denis Brunk announced the Egg Bowl news to their teams Wednesday afternoon.

“They were ecstatic,” Krist said. “They've been bugging me all year. They'll be playing their friends. They want to compete against their friends. That's healthy, and it will be fun.”

You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 707-521-5470 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @loriacarter.