The games are just going to get bigger and bigger for the Yuma High School football team.
And isn’t that the way one should want it?
“It doesn’t get any easier the rest of the way,” head coach Kelly Seward said.
The Yuma Football Team is 3-0 for the first time since 2010, following last Thursday’s 49-0 home decision over the Banning Lewis Stallions. Yuma jumped as high as No. 5 in the Class 1A Rating Percentage Index, but fell back to No. 9 after all the games were done last weekend. The former Tribe moved up one spot to No. 7 in the 1A Top 10 (CHAANow.com polls).
Yuma closes out its non-conference schedule when old-rival Brush comes to town, Friday night. The schools were in the same conference for decades, but have not met in a varsity football game in about 15 years.
“It’s still good, ol’ Brush, physical and strong,” Seward said. “They just keep coming at you. We expect this to be a four-quarter game.”
Brush reached the 2A championship game last season, losing to Eaton. The Beetdiggers are 1-1 in 2022 following its Morgan County round robin, losing to Wiggins in the season opener, then beating defending 3A champion Fort Morgan the next week. Their bye was last week.
The Yuma Football Team will be playing for its first 4-0 start since the undefeated championship season in 2009.
“This is a great test for where we’re at in our league,” Seward said. “We need this.”
The North Central Conference has four of the top seven in the 1A Top 10, with Limon at No. 1, Wray No. 3 and Wiggins No. 5. In the 1A Rating Percentage Index, Limon is No. 1, followed by Yuma at No. 9, Wiggins No. 10, Holyoke No. 20, and Wray at No. 21, while Burlington is No. 26.
Limon remained unbeaten with a 27-0 win at No. 3 Strasburg last Saturday. Wray suffered its first loss at home last Friday, 28-0 to Scott City, Kansas. Wiggins rebounded from its double-overtime loss to Strasburg to roll past Rocky Ford 58-7, and Burlington and Holyoke picked up their first wins of the season, 33-16 over Goodland, Kansas, and 46-20 over Colby, Kansas, respectively.
Limon has its bye this week, while the rest of the NCC teams wrap up non-conference play before having a bye leading into what promises to be an amazing conference round robin that begins September 30-October 1.
“At times we’ve been sloppy and have been able to get away with it,” Seward said, “but we can’t do that from here on out.”
Wray is at Ellicott on Friday, Wiggins is at 2A Platte Valley on Saturday, Holyoke is at Hershey, Nebraska, on Friday, and Burlington is at 2A Lamar on Friday.
