Ben Carreno of the Santa Barbara Bantam Bears runs through a El Rio defender during Super Bowl game.
Edgar Perez put his stamp on a Tri-Valley Youth Football Conference Super Bowl title for the Santa Barbara Bantam Bears.
Perez returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, rushed for two scores and returned an interception for a touchdown to propel the Bears to a 28-8 victory over the El Rio Vikings on Saturday at St. Joseph High in Santa Maria.
Santa Barbara YFL had two other teams finish as runners-up at the Super Bowl. The Junior 1 Bears fell to the Nipomo Blue Cowboys, 24-6, and the Cardinals lost to Nipomo 30-6 in the Junior 2 Division game.
Santa Barbara Bantam Bears celebrate their YFL Super Bowl championship.
Perez set the tone for the Bantam Bears at the start of the game with a 72-yard kickoff return for a 7-0 lead.
After stopping El Rio on its first possession of the game, the Bears struck again. Shawn Welliver returned the Vikings’ punt 38 yards to the 28-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Perez swept 28 yards for the touchdown.
Down by two scores, El Rio went to its passing game. Perez came up big on defense, picking off a pass and returning it 52 yards for a touchdown late in the second quarter. That left Santa Barbara ahead 20-0.
El Rio almost broke the second-half kickoff for a touchdown, but Jacob Forney came up with a saving touchdown at the 10 to keep the Vikings from scoring.
The would eventually find the end zone and score a two-point conversion to cut the Santa Barbara lead to 20-8.
The Bears, behind the passing of quarterback Ryan Rennick and the running of Ben Carreno, put together a nice drive and scored the final touchdown on a 38-yard draw play by Perez.
Members of the team are Edgar Perez, Dominic Pulido, Jacob Forney, Jackson Murrillo, Anthony Simentales, Bryan Zavaleta, Ryan Rennick, David Morales, Joseph Llamas, Ben Carreno, Isaak Munoz, Joe Debruynkops, David Jimenez, Cameron Blaul, Nathaniel Montes, Adam King, Dominic Murrillo, Jacob Velez, Korey Becker, Shawn Welliver, Steven Lara, Jack Huffman, Henry Herrera, Noah Duenas, Jorge Contreras, Derek Jackson, Emilliano Carbajal, Chico Zuninga and Armondo Andrade.
Cisco Carreno is the head coach. His assistants are Gabe Ortiz, Brian Green, Roy Forney, Victor Pulido, Bob Rennick, Dave Morales, Daniel Carreno, Christian Zavaleta and Jeremy Burrey. Cindy Carreno served as the Team Mom.
Santa Barbara's Isiah Veal, with his coaches cheering him on, runs for a touchdown in the Junior 1 Super Bowl.
JUNIOR 1 BEARS
In a battle of the top-two seeded teams in the division, No. 1 Nipomo scored twice in the second half to beat Santa Barbara 24-6.
The Bears got on the scoreboard first on a 95-yard touchdown dash by Isiah Veal. They failed to convert the two-point conversion.
Santa Barbara Junior 1 Bears defenders tackle a Nipomo ballcarrier during Super Bowl game.
Nipomo scored and made its two-point conversion to take an 8-6 lead at halftime.
The Bears recovered kicker Jacob Villareal’s onsides kick to start the second half, but they were unable to move the ball against Nipomo’s defense.
The Cowboys scored twice more in the second half to win the game.
Ashton Borgeson, Diego Carrillo, Cyrus Wallace, Tommy Johnson, Veal, Isaac Ramierza, Grant Smith and Mark Carroll played both ways for the Junior 1 Bears.
This marks the first year two Bear teams reached the Super Bowl.
With all the concerns regarding head injuries and concussions in tackle football (high school, college, pro) is it a good idea to have little kids bashing themselves all over the field while their proud parents and coaches cheer in the background? Looking at some of the pictures it looks like the dads are more excited and enthusiastic about the games then anyone else. Just saying.
You know football isnt just about bashing other players heads in. I was a coach for the bantam team and that was the farthest thing our parents or players were concerned about. Each and everyone of our players could tell you that football is something they loved and enjoyed doing. Maybe if you came to our game instead of jst looking at these pictures you’d see that. Just saying.
At that age, there is very little mass, very little velocity, and thus very little chance of head injury.