Yuma High School’s football team stands before a challenging road to the end of the regular season.
It begins Friday night with the annual Yuma County showdown for the Harvest Cup at rival Wray. It concludes the following Friday at Limon.
A 3-0 start has given way to a 4-3 record, 1-2 in the North Central Conference, following last Friday’s 32-21 loss at Holyoke. The Outlaws now are No. 14 in the CHSAA 1A Selection & Seeding Index, and face the possibility of completely dropping out of the 16-team playoff field.
Wray also is 4-3 after a tough 28-7 loss at Limon last Friday. The Eagles are 2-1 in the North Central and No. 6 in the Index. Quarterback Austin Collins returned recently from an injury that cost him some games earlier in the season.
Limon is 6-1, 3-0, and No. 2 in the Index, with its only loss to date coming at No. 2 Buena Vista. The Badgers play at Burlington on Friday. Burlington is 6-1, 2-1, after blanking Wiggins 28-0, and No. 3 in the Index. Holyoke improved to 3-4, 1-2, with the win over Yuma, and now is No. 16. The Dragons play at Wiggins on Friday. Wiggins is 1-6, 0-3, and currently is the only NCC team out of the playoff field at No. 19.
The Outlaws struggled containing Holyoke quarterback Colby Weber all game last Friday. The senior completed 19 of 29 passes for 345 yards and three touchdowns. The Outlaws came up with two interceptions, but it was not nearly enough. Weber also ran for 93 yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries, accounting for 438 of the Dragons’ 447 total yards. No other Dragon had more than seven yards rushing. Weber also returned an interception 52 yards.
Yuma saw running backs Daden Beauprez and Christian Thomson both go out with injuries, combining for 14 yards on five carries. The Outlaws did finish with 306 total yards, 197 rushing and 109 passing.
Quarterback Iann Duran did most of the rushing, going for 143 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries. Marvin Duarte ran nine times for 24 yards and one touchdown, and David Covarruias three carries for 16 yards.
Duran completed 12 of 20 passes for 109 yards, and had one interception. Reyli Trejo caught five passes for 57 yards, Stevie Seward two for 29 yards, Thomson three for 12, Covarrubias one for seven, and Duarte one for four.
The game started out promising enough for the Outlaws. The defense got a sack, forcing a punt on Holyoke’s first possession. Duran then ripped off a 51-yard touchdown run for a 6-0 lead about five minutes into the game.
Holyoke answered with its own scoring drive, mostly through the air, capped by Weber’s one-yard run.
Yuma came right back with another scoring drive. The quarter ended with Yuma facing a third-and-22 after sack, but Duran hit Trejo on a center screene-type play with Trejo rumbling 21 yards to the Holyoke 6-yard line. Duran then scored on fourth-and-one, and Duarte ran in the 2-point conversion for a 14-6 Yuma lead early in the second quarter.
Holyoke’s next drive was stopped by an interception deep in Yuma territory. The Outlaws, though, were unable to get anything going offensively the rest of the quarter. The Dragons kept coming through the air, setting up Weber’s 20-yard touchdown run, and then came a 31-yard touchdown pass to Elbin Padilla.
An interception by Ethan Nadow at the goal line stymied another scoring opportunity for the Dragons right before halftime.
Trailing 20-14, the Outlaws came out in the second half with a 70-yard drive featuring a 47-yard run by Duran and a four-yard touchdown run by Duarte. Omar Lozano kicked the extra point and Yuma led 21-20.
However, Holyoke quickly regained a 26-21 lead on Weber’s eight-yard run. He then hit Padilla on a short pass that went for a 23-yard touchdown for a 32-21 lead.
The Outlaws couldn’t get anything going offensively after the first possession in the second half, losing by 11.
Jose Mario Ross and Nadow each had an interception for Yuma. Duarte was in on eight tackles, Ross seven, Nadow six, David Gaytan six, Brodie Kallweit four, Jesus Rodriguez three, Trejo two, Seward two, Bryan Montes two, Lief Sims two, Tanner Himes two, and Covarrubias, Manuel Varela, Paulo Trujillo and Giovanni Segura one each.