Barstow Mitey Mites earn Super Bowl title

Does it get any better than celebrating an undefeated, Super Bowl season with a NFL Super Bowl winner?

For the Barstow Community Football mitey mite team, no it does not.

The Aztecs closed out their season with a 20-13 championship win against the Eastside Lions on Saturday in the High Desert Youth Football and Cheer Super Bowl at Rosamond High School to finish the season 11-0. The title is Barstow’s first in youth football since 2007.

Barstow quarterback Christain Taylor and Kevin Locke connected on the winning score in the third quarter and Aztecs’ defense held up the rest of the way for the win.

“Just like they’ve been doing for us all year, the defense stood up for us,” coach Scott Figueroa said. “It was a heck of an experience to watch those kids faces after winning a Super Bowl.”

The Aztecs postgame celebration operated much like the professionals. After receiving their trophies, medals and badges the Barstow players topped it off with a celebratory drink — apple cider. Players also snuck in on Figueroa, tricked him into bending down so they could reach him and drenched him with water.

Chris Hayes, a seven-season NFL veteran who won a Super Bowl title with the Green Bay Packers in 1996, was in attendance and helped fire up the team before the game and celebrated with them after it. BCF President John “Tex” Williams invited Hayes to the game after Hayes held a football clinic in Barstow in July.

“I called him to see if he could come down,” Williams said. “He is making Barstow a second home. He loves the kids.”

Hayes said he still remembered some of the players and enjoyed being around the championship environment.

“I love their cause,” said Hayes of Barstow. “I love everything they have going for them. That championship is something those kids can cherish the rest of their lives.”

Players, coaches and cheerleaders snapped pictures with Hayes while he signed autographs during the postgame celebration.

“Chris was great,” Jamar Taylor said. “It was great having him out there. He took timeout to take pictures with the kids. He was a good asset for the boys.”

As the celebration died down, the talk swayed to next year. Players and coaches were already talking about keeping their title, although in a different age division.

Eastside, which hails from Lancaster, had the opportunity to tie or take a lead late in the fourth quarter, but the Aztecs’ defense came up big.

The Lions couldn’t convert a fourth and one play from the Barstow three-yard line as Aztecs defender Michael Carrol disrupted the play. The Lions could have earned a new set of downs or scored on the play, but Barstow’s defense held them.

After a scoreless first quarter, Barstow opened scoring in the second quarter when Fidel Martinez broke for a 40-yard touchdown. Martinez led the Aztecs with 116 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 11 carries.
Lions running back Laron White caused problems for Barstow all day and helped put Eastside up midway through the second quarter with a 35-yard touchdown. White finished with 97 yards rushing.

The Lions seemed set to enter halftime with a 7-6 lead but fumbled the ball with less than a minute left in the first half. Barstow took advantage. After a passing play fell short, Figueroa  went back to the running game that had worked well all season for Barstow. He gave the players a play that they just implemented in practice before for the championship game.

“I said let’s go with the bread and butter and hopefully it can break,” Figueroa said.

It worked.

Martinez broke again for a 32-yard touchdown with help from a key block delivered by Nathan Figueroa to put Barstow up 13-7 with the extra point.

Barstow 0 13 7 0 — 20
Eastside 0 7 6 0 — 13

Second Quarter
B — Martinez 40 run (run failed)
E — White 35 run (Jackson run)
B — Martinez 32 run (Taylor run)
Third Quarter
E — Jackson 15 run (run failed)
B — Locke 38 pass from Taylor (Taylor run)

Editor’s note — Rushing or passing for an extra point counts for one point while kicking counts for two at this level.

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