The Egg Bowl is the traditional football game Petaluma High and Casa Grande High put on every year. The Egg Bowl began in 1974 and has been a long standing tradition, despite its temporary leave from 2011-2017. 

The Egg Bowl is held at either of the two local schools, Petaluma High School or Casa Grande High School. Hundreds of students attend this event making it one of the most popular events during the school year in Petaluma. This unique name comes from the Press Democrat. 

“So the Press Democrat actually came up with a name. The Press Democrat sponsored the trophy, bought the trophy and everything. I‘m not sure what year that was. But that’s how it started. The Press Democrat,“ said Rick O‘Brien, a teacher and former football coach at Casa who started teaching in 1984.

According to O’Brien, after The Press Democrat decided to create a name for the crosstown rival game, they put out a poll to Petaluma. “Petaluma, I think, was considered an egg capital of the world at one time or something like that. That’s how it came up” O’Brien said.

The tradition of having an Egg Bowl is to see what crosstown rival football team is better. These cross town rival students have grown up together, played sports together, and now have the ultimate face-off. This event is meant to unify the town of Petaluma, as four to five thousand people attend. Traditionally, whoever wins the game gets the trophy that was sponsored by the Press Democrat.

“It’s a nice tradition,“ said O‘Brien.

Last Saturday, October 30th was the 2021 Egg Bowl for the town of Petaluma. Rooting for Casa was O’Brien, on the sidelines. Casa Grande High Schools’ JV and Varsity teams won against Petaluma this year, with Casa’s freshmen not playing due to Petaluma High not having a freshmen team. 

O’Brien has previously stated that his bets go towards Casa. But his biggest request is always for no player, Petaluma or Casa, to get hurt during the game. 

“I just hope that both teams play the best to their best. But the most important thing is that no one gets hurt” said O’Brien.

Regardless of winner or loser, the purpose of the Egg Bowl is to celebrate the Petaluma community coming together. 

“At the end of the game, both teams [are] able to shake hands at the middle of the field and respect each other and, and the community of Petaluma becomes a better place with our community to come together. Hopefully, you know, it’s a unifying game. That would be my hopes,“ said O‘Brien.

Looking to Casa’s future O’Brien thinks that Gaucho football is heading in a positive direction. The Gauchos have extremely talented seniors, talented juniors, competitive sophomores, and successful freshmen.