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WASHINGTON — Through eight games of his senior campaign, Crimson Cliffs quarterback Steele Barben is putting up unconscious, video game-like numbers with the nearly undefeated Mustangs.
Barben has a 66.2% completion percentage, 226.1 yards per game average for 1,809 passing yards, and 25 touchdowns to a variety of receivers, including Tyler West, Malakai Alofipo and Boston Adamson, to name just a few.
He tossed five touchdowns among his 182 yards in last week's 61-7 road win over Hurricane, earning him KSL.com BOLD prep football player of the week honors.
But there's one number in which Barben — himself a household name in the St. George area if for no other reason than a family legacy that spanned Dixie High to Desert Hills and now the newer school in Washington Fields — takes particular pride: turnovers, or just five interceptions through the whole season.
A quarterback's top job is to take care of the football, or at least that's what Crimson Cliffs first-year offensive coordinator Andy Stokes has said. And Barben does that as well as anyone in the state, ranking eighth among all classifications in passing touchdowns (first in 4A classification), with a career touchdown-to-interception ratio of 64-to-18 over three seasons of varsity football.
"I feel like turnovers are a big momentum changer in any game," Barben told KSL.com. "Coach Stokes has helped me a lot to analyze the defense in the spring and summer, and take what the defense gives me."
Crimson Cliffs head coach Wayne Alofipo had an idea that the Mustangs (7-1, 4-0 4A Region 9) could be pretty good this season. Crimson Cliffs was coming off a run to the 4A state championship in Alofipo's first season, where they lost to crosstown rival Desert Hills,
But the Mustangs brought back nine returning starters, including a half-dozen on offense with Barben, and have steadily built up their program to become a contenders for a Region 9 title with a No. 8 ranking in the KSL.com Top 20+1 and second in 4A in the UHSAA's official RPI rating.
"We still have a lot to do," Alofipo said. "You always hope to have a good season with that many upperclassmen … but we still have a lot to prove and a lot to accomplish."
The key, perhaps, came on the coaching staff in Stokes, the former Dixie High and Timpview head coach who moved back to St. George. Suddenly, it was a match made in heaven between quarterback and offensive play-caller.
"This young man is poised; he's got a lot of composure to him, he's intelligent, and he's continuing to grow in the game," Alofipo said. "Pairing him with coach Andy Stokes has been a great football marriage of two minds. It speaks volumes to Andy, but also to Steele, his growth, and his desire to be better. He works hard, and he does everything you want in a quarterback and a signal caller."
A three-sport athlete who also plays baseball and basketball, Barben has thrown for 5,004 yards and 64 touchdowns in 24 games as a starting quarterback with the Mustangs. He's also a bit of a dual-threat, rushing for 134 yards and a pair of scores.
But his favorite thing — when he isn't playing golf or wakesurfing with his five siblings at Sand Hollow and Quail Hollow reservoirs — is connecting with his receiving corps and putting them in the end zone.
"I just give what the defense gives me," he said of Friday's win over the Tigers. "I have awesome receivers who can run solo routes and get open whenever I need them to. They help me out a lot."
If you'd like to nominate a football player to be the KSL.com BOLD player of the week, email us at onlinesports@ksl.com and tell us why.
