Another game at Powell Field that looked promising ended in bitter defeat, last Friday night for the Yuma High School football team.
However, the Indians get one more chance to end this most unusual of 2020 seasons on a positive note.
It took some scrambling earlier this week, but the Indians have picked up a seventh game against Prospect Ridge Academy, Friday at 6 p.m. in Yuma.
CHSAA, when announcing the 6-game fall season in September, included that non-playoff teams would be able to play a seventh game.
YHS first scheduled to host Class 2A University out of Greeley. However, YHS canceled that game due to a number of players being on quarantine as there have been four confirmed COVID cases over the past week — as of this past Tuesday, November 17.
Between quarantine and injuries, the Indians had 17 players out as of earlier this week, so the decision was made to cancel the University game, who had a solid season in the Patriot League.
“I don’t need to get a bunch of young guys hurt,” coach Kelly Seward said.
YHS has enough players to field a team, though, so it instead scheduled fellow 1A school Prospect Ridge Academy. Like Yuma, the Miners were able to get in a full six games, going 2-4.
Yuma is 3-3 with a chance at finishing with a winning record.
PRA, located in Broomfield, beat The Pinnacle and Banning Lewis Academy. It lost in overtime 22-20 to Platte Canyon, the same team Yuma blew out at home in Week 2. The Miners’ last game was a 49-12 home loss to Bennett.
“It might be a pretty even game when we get out there Friday night,” Seward said, “where a month ago I would have liked to have thought we would’ve won easily.”
He added he felt bad for the JV players not getting in one game game this past Monday, but noted Holyoke and Wray did not have any JV games all season.
“It’s a bummer how it ended but we still got to have somewhat of a normal season,” Seward said.
Yuma had a chance to improve to 4-2, and possibly slip into the playoffs, when it traveled to Wray last Friday for the annual Harvest Cup showdown.
It was looking good for awhile as Yuma led 9-6 at halftime. However, the playoff-bound Eagles, 5-1, dominated the second half for a 27-9 win.
“Fourteen to nine going into the fourth (quarter), nobody in the state would have given us a chance to be that close,” Seward said. “We were right there.”
The Indians opened the game with a promising drive, but it bogged down and they punted on fourth-and-five at Wray’s 35-yard own. However, the punt went only to the 18, and the Eagles went on an extended scoring drive capped by Junior Arambula’s one-yard plunge. The snap was bad on the PAT, and Wray’s lead remained at 6-0 late in the first quarter.
Yuma embarked on another promising drive, this time getting to Wray’s 3-yard line before failing to convert on fourth down.
A short kickoff following the safety resulted in Yuma taking over at the Wray 42.
Blessed with good field position, the Indians drove right downfield, and capped it with Trejo’s two-yard run. Alex Lozano’s PAT gave Yuma a 9-6 lead with 3:48 left in the first half.
Wray did get to Yuma’s 12 before halftime, but the defense came up with a stop to preserve the lead heading into the intermission.
A tipped pass by Jose Ruiz stopped Wray’s first drive of the second half.
Yuma’s ensuing drive bogged down at the Eagles’ 45.
That is when it all went south for the Indians.
Lozano bobbled the snap on the punt, and was drilled at the Wray 48, knocking the NCC’s best kicker out of the game with an injury.
Then, on third down, Wray quarterback Tyler Collins broke free for a 46-yard touchdown run. The two-point run was good and Wray led 14-9 late in the third quarter.
“The momentum changed, the wind started to blow and it just kind of snowballed on us,” Seward said.
Yuma stuck around for a bit after that. Joey Ross filled in nicely for Lozano, punting to Wray’s 2-yard line, and Louden Blach’s sack on third down gave the Indians the ball back with 9:50 left.
However, Yuma could not drive, had to punt into the wind, and Wray took over with a short field.
Collins kept finding success running as the game progressed, scoring again with 8 minutes left for a 20-9 Wray led.
Collins sealed the game with a 10-yard TD run with 1:30 left.
The quarterback finished with 205 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 26 attempts. He also completed seven passes for 44 yards.
“Wray, I think, they learned our pass defense is pretty good, so they went with him running the ball and enough of Collins just wore us out,” Seward said. “You can’t just arm tackle him.”
Yuma finished with 227 total yards, 200 rushing and 27 passing, compared to 311 total yards by the Eagles.
It as a clean came as neither team lost a fumble or interception, both had just three penalties.
Clay Robinson ran for 117 yards on 32 carries, Trejo 78 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, and Ethan Goeglein 13 yards on six carries. Robinson completed one pass to Kallen Blach for 17 yards, one to Kevin Hermosillo for nine yards, and one to Ethan Gonzales for one yard.
Defensively, L. Blach was in on seven total tackles, Trejo seven, Robinson eight, Ross seven, Juan Cortes five, Lane Remmich four, Christian Quezada four, Eduardo Corral four, Rigo Muela two, Hermosillo two, Victor Perez two, Ruiz one, Brandon Mendoza one, Damon Thornton one, Jesus Ross one, and Gonzales one.
“I thought the effort the guys gave us was just awesome,” Seward said.
