Grand Terrace hosts Junior All-American Football Super Bowl

On Dec. 8, families from all over the Inland Empire gathered at the Grand Terrace High School (GTHS) football stadium for the Inland Empire Junior All-American Football Conference (IEJAAFC) Super Bowl. According to Grand Terrace Junior Titans Board President Hayward Robinson, this is Grand Terrace’s first time hosting the Super Bowl, the biggest event of the year. “For only our third year here, to host the Super Bowl is really big for us, so we’re really happy about it,” said Robinson. The ages of players for the IEJAAFC range from 7-14 years old, are separated into five divisions and come from 19 different cities. “Today is just gonna be fun, friendship, fellowship, having a good time,” said Robinson. The event featured several vendors such as Cabrera’s Tacos, Sports Bling Tees, and Fatal Fashions. The Grand Terrace Titans snack bar sold a variety of food from hot dogs to menudo and pozole. Shoutouts from families to the players by the announcer were available for $1. The first game of the Super Bowl was played by the Junior Micro Division: The Jurupa Steelers vs. the Shadow Hill Indio Knights. The game was tied until the fourth quarter, when the Knights took the victory. After each game, conference President Nick Wells shared a few words with each team, praising them for their hard work and presenting them with their respective medals and trophies. “We really love it, we had a really good time just coming up here and putting this program together, said Robinson. “It’s not without bumps but again, everybody has been very welcome and opening just seeing another program help out the youth. And that’s our main thing, just to make sure these guys have the options and opportunity to something in life. Something positive.” Robinson expressed his gratitude to the city of Grand Terrace, the high school, the school district, the stakeholders, the conference board members and volunteers for doing what they could to make the Super Bowl come together. “Our thing is, we hope that a lot of [these kids] continue to play football, learn the game of football and they could continue to grow,” he said. “I love the sport of football but I always tell them, to me it doesn’t matter what sport you play, as long as you play something. Just stay active and do something good.”