Menlo-Atherton Vikings 10Us heading to Pop Warner Super Bowl tournament

Now, the Vikings advance to the national championships opening Dec. 4 at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, Florida, where they will play at Camping World Stadium — one of the filming locations used in Adam Sandler’s classic 1998 film “The Waterboy.”

“This, for a lot of these kids, I think only six of them have played with us before,” Vikings 10U head coach Harold Atkins said. “From a roster of 30, that makes … for 24 kids, their first indoctrination to football.”

The Pop Warner Super Bowl tournament includes two rounds of play, with the Vikings set to play in the 10U semifinals Sunday, Dec. 4 against an opponent to be determined. The winner advances to the championship game later that week.

M-A won convincingly Sunday, opening a 26-0 lead with a ground-heavy attack. Atkins prides his backfield tandem of Levi Baquero and Darius “Ray” Skipwith as the Vikings’ thunder and lightning.

One of the big highlights was a 26-yard touchdown run by Baquero, as he swept outside the left side between blocks from fullback Nate Giesselman and lineman Erik Atkins. Baquero broke a tackle across the line of scrimmage with a spin move, then broke several more tackles on his way to the end zone.

Baquero rushed for two touchdowns in the game.

“When you have thunder and lightning, he is the thunder,” Harold Atkins said.

Skipwith, aka the lightning, scored M-A’s first three touchdowns of the game.

“Ray is going to be one of the fastest kids you’ve ever seen to come out of the Bay Area,” Harold Atkins said.

But don’t forget about the cloud cover out of the fullback position.

“All three of [Skipwith’s touchdowns] were sprung by Nate’s blocks … then Nate spun around and sprung two crushing blocks on Levi’s runs,” Harold Atkins said.

The Broncos scored three second-half touchdowns, including two by running back Cortez “The Rock3t” Mahasin.

But the Vikings’ defense was on point throughout. M-A forced four punts in the game, with one of those punts blocked by Erik Atkins. Then safety Javan Clark turned in a late interception.

“It was just read perfectly on a trick pass by them … and he jumped the pass and took it back 20 yards,” Harold Atkins said. “I would say that interception sealed the deal.”

The Vikings kept the ball on the ground all day, a strategy to keep the game sternly under control on the ground. But starting quarterback Henry Chen has drawn raves from Harold Atkins, who described the first-year quarterback as a fearless, quiet kid with a promising arm. Chen’s backup Charlie Dasey, has also seen reps under center this season.

“They were learning on the job and did a great job learning together, and quarterbacking this team to the championship their first year playing together,” Harold Atkins said.

The Vikings’ 10U team was one of two squad playing in BAYFC championship games Sunday. The M-A Vikings 14U fell 18-8 to the Los Gatos Longhorns in the Division 1 14U finals. Los Gatos now advances to a semifinal round in Reno, Nevada.

Other BAYFC championships were won by:

Division 1 — the Santa Clara Wildcats 11U; and the Santa Cruz Seahawks 14U.

Division 2 — the Solano County Ravens 10U; the Hollister Vikings 11U; and the Redwood City 49ers 12U.