Chris Martinez, head coach of the Santa Clarita Grizzlies bantam football team, said there’s nothing better than winning a championship, especially when you beat the team that stopped you in the title game last year.
His Grizzlies did just that earlier this month, shutting out the North Valley Bears, 18-0, to claim the Gold Coast Youth Football League championship at SoFi Stadium.
“We lost literally the last play of the game,” Martinez said in a phone interview, recalling his team’s loss to the Bears last year in the mighty mite championship. “So we had to live with that feeling, you know, for the whole year. My kids just were super motivated. All year, they worked hard.”
The Grizzlies were one of three youth football teams from the Santa Clarita Valley to claim championship victories at SoFi Stadium earlier this month, joining the SC Wildcats senior team and the SC Warriors junior team. The SC Wildcats freshman team made it four title teams when they beat the North Valley Bears at Santa Barbara City College, 40-0.
Coached by Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station Capt. Justin Diez, the Wildcats earned back-to-back titles after winning it all last year in the bantam division. He said it was a remarkable turnaround after entering the postseason this year without a win.
“Something sparked with this team that we couldn’t quite put our finger on,” Diez said in a phone interview, “but we knew our first week of playoffs, at the first practice, we knew that we were probably going to do very well because we just saw this change in the kids overnight. And we just kind of rode that wave up through the three playoff games and then into the championship.”
Part of it, he said, was a change in the offense. Diez and his offensive coordinator, Joseph Higgins, decided to move to a wing offense before adding in a twins formation and a split back formation.
Diez saw his son, Evan, throw one touchdown to Jai Haddad. Jaxson Gallo had two touchdowns, including one where he ripped through the offensive line and picked off a Bears handoff, returning it for a defensive score. Desi Lewis added three touchdowns on the ground, with Diez saying it was the work of the offensive line that allowed him to shine.
“He was excited, but he’s such a humble kid,” Diez said, referring to Gallo’s “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” adding, “He was just, you know, ‘That was it, just kind of doing my job.’”
The Grizzlies won their bantam championship this year by getting three touchdowns from Ryan Gayden. Martinez said his team acted “almost like they’re professionals” at SoFi after playing there last year.
“I had to keep explaining to them, like, ‘Look, this is rare. I never got to play, as long as I played football, I never played in such a big arena,’” Martinez said. “It was a great feeling. The kids loved it. They didn’t seem nervous one bit.”
The Warriors junior team was coached by Dave Corbet and took down the Wildcats junior team, 20-8. The all-Santa Clarita affair saw Brayden May throw two passing touchdowns and score once rushing, while Judge Monroe hauled in both scores through the air.
It’s the ninth year in a row that Corbet, who has three sons, has coached a youth football team to a championship game, but the first in the GCYFL after the Warriors moved from the Pacific Youth Football League prior to the 2024 season. He has now won six of them, he said.
“I didn’t really get to appreciate the experience walking in and pregame, because I was so focused on the game and everything at hand,” Corbet said in a phone interview. “After we won, I was able to soak it in and enjoy it. It was kind of overwhelming, you know. Then I kind of realized where we were at. We were fortunate enough to get into the visiting locker room, they got to suit up there, and we got to have halftime in there. It was so overwhelming. It was really exciting.”
A total of six SCV teams made it to championship games, with the Wildcats senior team beating the Saugus Spartans, along with the Warriors facing off against the Wildcats senior squad.
“There was more on the line,” Corbet said of the all-SCV finals. “It was kind of like Santa Clarita bragging rights.”
As for the future of football in the SCV?
“I think the future of Santa Clarita football, not only at the youth level, but the high school level, there’s a big future in it,” Diez said.
