BHS Football: Aztecs face winless Sultans

BARSTOW • At Week 8 of the high school football season we have officially hit the dog days of the season.

Wouldn’t it be a great time for a bye week?

“It’d be nice to have a bye week so everyone could heal themselves up and get ready for league,” senior linebacker Fernando Trujillo said.

It would, but the Barstow High School football team will have no such luck.

A nonleague matchup against a team riding an 18-game losing streak will have to do. Barstow travels to play Sultana at 7 p.m. tonight. The Sultans’ last win came against Barstow when they beat the Aztecs 35-13 on Nov. 2, 2007.

Despite the Sultan’s winless streak and the fact that they’ve been outscored 254 to 60 this season, Barstow coach Jose Rubio said the Aztecs can’t afford to overlook Sultana. It was a mistake that nearly cost Barstow a loss a year ago.

“We still got to play the game,” Rubio said. “They look good on film.”

The Aztecs struggled in a 16-14 win against the Sultans a year ago. They began the game attempting to practice their passing game, and it helped Sultana hang around. Barstow connected on just 3-of-12 passing attempts.

“I know last year we let them hang with us, which we really shouldn’t have,” senior lineman Jonathan McPheron said. “It really shouldn’t have happened. We took them too lightly almost and mentally we weren’t ready.”

If anything, the Aztecs will be getting back to basics this time around, Rubio said.

“We learned from last year,” Rubio said. “We are not going to come out and work on a new offense. We want to go back to rotating a lot of backs, get a lot of guys touching the ball and keep all the hits down. We can’t have Sean (Silva) and Curtis (Webb) carrying the ball 20 times.”

The Aztecs have battled illness and injury in recent weeks. Against Silverado, just five players carried the ball and only Webb collected significant carries and yardage. Webb finished with 121 yards on 24 carries before leaving the game in the fourth quarter with an injury. By contrast, 12 players ran the ball, with no one receiving more than eight carries, in the Aztecs’ season opener against Rialto.

Others at various positions have been in and out of the lineup. McPheron sprained his ankle against Burroughs, was limited in practice the next week but played through the injury against Silverado.

“We all have our little dings, cuts or sicknesses,” McPheron said. “Most of the team is getting plagued by it pretty much.”

Illness has also been an issue as each week a handful of players get sick just as a handful of others are getting healthy. Those that get sick stay home to keep the germs contained.

Trujillo said the Aztecs health problems shouldn’t hamper the team long-term.

“The thing about Barstow boys is we play hurt,” Trujillo said. “It’s not a big deal.”

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4124 or mpeters@desertdispatch.com