Yuma Football Team head coach Kelly Seward said earlier this week he would like to see more turnovers generated by his defense.
Well, the defense delivered in Yuma’s 49-0 home win over Banning Lewis, Thursday night. A total of five turnovers, four interceptions and one fumble recovery, fueled the YFT’s first shutout of the 2022 season. A tipped pass was intercepted by a lineman, Ethan Gonzales, who nearly returned it for a score, and Daman Hernandez scored after stripping the ball from the Banning Lewis ballcarrier and returned it to the house.
Yuma football now is 3-0 for the first time since the 2010 season. Yuma will attempt to start the season 4-0 for the first time since the undefeated 2009 state championship campaign when it hosts old-rival Brush next Friday in the final non-conference game of the season.
Thursday’s game start was delayed to 8 p.m. when Banning Lewis’ charter bus was late arriving at the Colorado Springs school.
It did not take long for Yuma to get going, though, as it ground out a 15-play scoring drive on its first possession. Kallen Blach did the honors from five yards out. Jack Blecha scored on a two-yard run midway through the second quarter, and then scored on a 50-yard run with 52 seconds before intermission.
Yuma then scored four touchdowns in the third quarter, beginning with Hernandez’s strip-and-score, followed Nash Richardson’s six-yard pass to Hernandez, Richardson’s three-yard TD run, and Richardson’s 14-yard TD toss to Kevin Hermosillo.
Alex Lozano drilled all seven of his extra-point attempts.
Yuma’s defense limited the Stallions to 66 total yards, an average of 2.1 yards per play. Yuma’s offense often played with a short field thanks to the turnovers, finishing with 273 total yards. Yuma had 253 yards on the ground, averaging 6.7 yards per rush.
