BHS Football: Aztecs, Cougars face off for playoffs

BARSTOW • And so it comes down to this.

Win tonight, and you are in the playoffs. Lose, and go home.

It’s that simple for the Barstow and Granite Hills High School football teams when they meet at 7 p.m. tonight at Langworthy Field for the regular season finale.

Barstow’s loss to Victor Valley and Granite Hills’ loss to Silverado created a four-way logjam for second place in the Desert Sky League. While Silverado rests with a bye week and the DSL title already in hand, the rest of the league will battle it out for a playoff spot.

A sort of pre-playoff for the playoffs as Barstow coach Jose Rubio calls it.

“I told the kids it’s up to them how long they want to play this year,” Rubio said. “For the seniors I told them to get together and decide if they are playing for another couple weeks.”

The fact that the game has playoff implications is proof of the gap between the Desert Sky League teams is shrinking. When the two team’s met in the regular season finale a year ago, a postseason ticket was already clinched and the only thing on the line was playoff seeding for Barstow.

Silverado has dominated the league again this season but the rest of the DSL teams have spent the last four weeks beating up each other.

“How do you piece it together?” Rubio said. “We beat Burroughs, but Burroughs beat Granite. But Granite beat Victor, and Victor beat us. You can’t really tell from that part. It’s going to be a matchup thing. We have to come out and execute and control them on defense.”

Granite Hills has struggle since the school started playing in 1999 and earned just one playoff appearance. Whether or not the Cougars return to the postseason, they are much improved, Rubio said. They’ve become a physical football team worthy of sharing a league with Barstow and Silverado.

The Cougars stand in the way of the Aztecs attempt to get back to the CIF-Southern Section Eastern Division championship game. Since losing to Citrus Hill last year, the Aztecs have vowed to get back to the game and silence the critics. They won’t have a chance without a win.

“I’d say there’s more stress, but we can do this,” senior Fernando Trujillo said. “It’s just like any other team. Who wants to play? Who wants to win? Who wants it more? We want the playoffs, baby. We want to show everyone last year wasn’t a fluke.”

Although they are coming off a one-point loss to Victor Valley and have heard a fair share of ribbing from their classmates, senior Brandon Martel said the Aztecs are prepared to face the pressure of a must-win game.

“(We hear it) from people around school, yea. ‘Oh, you guys lost the Axe. Oh, you guys suck.’ ” said Martel describing the talk around school. “They don’t know what we go through on a daily basis and how hard it is. Yeah, there’s a lot of pressure to win but I’m sure we are going to be all right.”