BARTOW, Fla. - Sometimes, you want to go where everybody knows your name

That’s Bartow. And when you’re a Yellow Jacket, they definitely know your name.

“It’s pretty special,” Bartow boys basketball coach Terrence McGriff said. “Pretty, pretty awesome.”

When you wear the Bartow Yellow Jacket uniform, you’re representing more than the high school. You’re playing for more than your brothers on the team. You’re playing for the whole town.

“It’s a big deal for the teachers, for the administration, for the coaching staff, but then for the community,” McGriff said.

The Yellow Jackets made history. Back-to-back state titles for the first time at Bartow and a first for a boys team in Polk County in the modern era. That they did it with everything stacked against them made the victory that much sweeter.

“It’s been the most unusual year,” McGriff said. “Coaching through a pandemic with masks on, I mean, so it’s that part.”

“I dreamed of this since I as a kid,” senior Walter Clayton, Jr. said. “I didn’t dream back-to-back. I dreamed of one, so going out with two felt good.”

It wasn’t easy. The Yellow Jackets repeated with the constant pressure of being the defending champs. And they repeated despite the cloud of Covid constantly threatening to shut them down.

“We got shut down, Polk County, for three weeks in the middle of December and it was tough for us,” McGriff said. “That was our go time. And we come back out in January and we don’t look like the defending state champs. “

Last year, Bartow won the 6A championship just before the pandemic shut the world down. They did it for the love of the game and a love of each other. And that love spread this season.

“You can’t win without a love for one another, a love for hard work, a love for adversity, a passion,” McGriff said. “Because love, care passion’s all the same thing for what you do. It’s essential.”

The Bartow community loves them back. Their support is literally plastered along the walls of the high school gym. One high school, in one small town, celebrating together.

“That’s what it’s about,” McGriff said. “Sometimes the guys will say y’all and I’ll say whose y’all? Cause y’all divides, like we says we’re in it together. And so that’s important.

“It’s who we are. It’s who Bartow is. And it’s who we are representing Bartow with the basketball program.”