Two coaches revive Merced County all-star football game, plus one for girls flag football

One of the casualties of the pandemic was the long-running North/South Rotary Bob Green Football Classic that was held in Merced.

For 34 years, up until the game was canceled in 2020, the all-star game was an opportunity for local high school players to showcase their skills one last time before graduation.

Now two former longtime coaches have teamed up to start a new all-star game and have added a girls flag football all-star game, too.

Golden Valley High School’s outgoing principal Kevin Swartwood and retired El Capitan athletic director and former Merced High baseball coach Lou Souza have created the Merced County All-Star Football Game, which is sponsored by the Merced Breakfast Lions Club.

The game will be held on Saturday, June 15, at Golden Valley’s Veterans Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

There also will be a Merced County Girls Flag Football All-Star Game held prior at 5:30 p.m.

Since the rotary all-star game wasn’t revived for several years, few Merced players have been able to compete in all-star football games in recent years. There’s the Lions game in Tracy and the Fresno City/County game, but only a handful of players from Merced County are picked for those games each year.

Bob Green started the rotary game in 1986 as a way to give players from small schools an opportunity to play. Swartwood and Souza created this game to give opportunities for kids in Merced County to play in a game.

“We wanted to start the game out like Bob did and keep it to a small area,” said Swartwood.

The boys football game will be comprised of players from 20 schools. The North will be coached by Atwater High coach Seneca Ybarra and his Falcons staff. The North team will be made up of players from Atwater, Buhach Colony, Hilmar, Livingston, Gustine, Delhi, Los Banos, Pacheco, Patterson and Orestimba.

Golden Valley’s Rick Martinez and his Cougars staff will coach the Souther team, which will be made up of players from Golden Valley, Merced, El Capitan, Dos Palos, Le Grand, Mariposa, Sonora, Summerville, Stone Ridge Christian and Chowchilla.

The majority of the players who were chosen received first or second team honors from their respective leagues. Both teams will have a roster close to 40 players.

While the boys game is relegated to senior players, the girls flag football game is open to all grades.

The flag football game will be divided into blue and gold teams. The blue team is comprised of players from Central Valley, Ceres, Livingston Los Banos, Orestimba, Pacheco and Patterson and will be coached by Livingston’s Toni Tafolla.

The gold team will field players from Atwater, Buhach Colony, Golden Valley, El Capitan, Merced and Mariposa and will be coached by Atwater’s Capri Abbasi.

“With flag football, it’s like, Why not,” said Souza, who is the current Central California Conference commissioner. “That sport has taken off. Being a commissioner I know we had about 75 teams playing this year (in the Sac-Joaquin Section). They are expecting over 100 teams next year.”

Swartwood has served on the committee for the rotary all-star game and Souza has helped put together the Merced County All-Star Baseball Game for 13 years so both men have experience with all-star games.

The two have been friends since they started car pooling together when they lived in Modesto and worked at Merced High in 1988. Most Sunday mornings they get together at 6:30 a.m. for a weekly bike ride.

Swartwood was the head football coach at Buhach Colony for eight years and prior to that was a longtime assistant coach with stops at Golden Valley, Merced and Atwater.

“I owe Lou a lot right now,” Swartwood said. “He’s been carrying the load the last couple months getting this thing going.”

The plan is to offer scholarships with the game, similar to what Green did with the rotary all-star game, depending on the donations raised.

“In 2019, I think Bob Green was handing out close to $40,000 in scholarships,” Swartwood said. “That was all Bob Green’s hard work. When I retire, I hope to get out to meet with more service clubs and see if we can get some help where we can. I’d like to grow the scholarship pot bigger.”

Souza says the game may grow bigger, and they may expand to more schools down the road. The response from schools, coaches and the community has been great.

“It’s been awesome,” Swartwood said. “The people we talk to have asked how can we help? Can we cook team meals or help on game night. The coaches have responded with a let’s do this.”