It’s been a while since anyone saw the Yuma High School boys’ basketball team play a game.
The Indians haven’t played since a 65:25 win in Burlington on Feb.20, thanks to a COVID-19 case and subsequent quarantine that wiped out the last four regular season games.
However, they’ll finally be back on the court today, March 11th, when they line up Fowler with the 13th seed in a Class 2A Sweet-16 game. Fowler knocked off Vail Mountain (37-34) with the 20th seed on Tuesday evening.
“I like our group,” said head coach Dave Sheffield. “We just have to get going again.”
The lack of the last four regular season games ruined the Indians’ offer for a top 2 place in the class 2A playoff field with 24 teams. However, it also didn’t cause them to fall in the overall standings as they ended up fourth seed.
The eight best seeds said goodbye in the first round last Tuesday.
This has enabled the Indians to complete three full days of training in the postseason earlier this week after the current break.
You will see a known enemy in The Pit tonight. (The game will be streamed live on Yuma Indians Athletics and Activities on Facebook.) Fowler comes to town after knocking off Vail Mountain last Tuesday. Yuma defeated the Grizzlies in the state semi-finals en route to the 2019 2A title and knocked them out in the quarter-finals last year. This allowed the Indians to record two wins from a third title in a row when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Today’s game promises to be another competitive showdown at the teams’ first meeting in Yuma.
This year’s state tournament is a two-week blurring in which the higher seeded team aligns all the way through the semifinals.
Seeds played 9-24 last Tuesday, followed by the Sweet 16 games today. The CHSAA announced on Thursday that the quarter-finals had been postponed to Monday and the semifinals to Wednesday, as the state is expected to be hit by a heavy snow storm over the weekend. The championship game will take place on Friday March 19 at the World Arena in Colorado Springs.
If Yuma prevails tonight, the Indians will host a quarter-finals on Monday against the winner of tonight’s game between Holly with the fifth seed and Wiggins with the twelfth seed, who beat Vail Christian on Tuesday.
Yuma’s side of the bracket is fascinating. At the top is Wray No. 1, along with Sedgwick County with eight seeds, other LPAA teams, and Wiggins. Wray hosts Monte Vista tonight with the 16th seed while Sedgwick County hosts Mancos with the 9th seed.
If both win, they’ll play a quarter-finals at the Eagles Nest on Monday.
If Yuma and Wiggins both win today, too, it would mean all four quarter-finalists on the left side of the bracket are LPAA teams, which guarantees the league a representative in the state championship game – which seems like a pretty good bet anyway.
Of course, there is the potential for a Yuma Wray semi-final in Wray on Wednesday. There is also a possibility that Yuma will host the semifinals.
Of course, there’s a lot of basketball to play in a short amount of time before you ever get to that point.
The first challenge is getting past Fowler after such a long hiatus.
“The boys did a good job,” said Sheffield. “You will be anxious to get back on the ground.
“Those first three days will seem like three weeks,” he said on Monday, “and then it’s game after game … the stuff on the homepage is going to be a big change.” All you have to do is get in and go. At this point in the season you have to worry more than the other team. “
On the other side of the bracket are Limon with the second seed, Peyton with the third seed, Denver Christian with the sixth seed, and Sanford with the seventh seed.
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