Yuma Football has the ability to build something “Mo” – Yuma Pioneer

The Yuma High School soccer team has an opportunity to get the conference going for some serious momentum over the next week.
The tribe will complete the non-conference portion of its schedule on Friday in Sidney, Nebraska. (Kickoff 7pm) It travels to the Panhandle with a 2-1 record after an important 28-21 win over the Highland Huskies last Friday in Ault.

Highland was 10th in Class 1A at the time of the game last Friday. The Huskies have since dropped out, while Yuma returned to the top 10 this week in 9th place (CHSAANow.com polls). The Indians are one place outside Strasbourg that clinched a last-minute victory over the tribe earlier this month but are 1-3 as they play a very difficult schedule.
Yuma is currently ranked 18th on the Rating Percentage Index, but has many opportunities to climb as four North Central Conference teams are in the top 10 of the RPI this week – Limon 4th, Holyoke 7th, Wray 8th and Wiggins No. 10.
As for the top 10, the NCC has five of the spots with Limon in 1st place, Wray in 5th place, Holyoke in 7th place, Wiggins in 8th place, and Yuma in 9th place.
Yuma will face a bigger school when she travels to Sydney on Friday. The Red Raiders are currently 2-2. They opened with a 36-6 win at Bridgeport and then squeaked 8-6 past Chase County. They lost their last two, 38-28 against Cozad and 21-12 against Holdrege.
Friday’s game could go fast as both teams prefer the floor game which keeps the clock going. Sidney passed only 77 yards in four games but hit 1,142 yards to the ground, led by Senior Nathan Kennedy with 473 rushing yards. Sophomore Luke Holly has 325 yards.
Yuma lost senior quarterback / rusher Clay Robinson to injury in the second half last Friday. The pioneer did not know what his status was for that week.
Robinson has run 605 yards and seven touchdowns in three games. He’s also made nine of 18 pass attempts for 155 yards and a TD.
There’s a lot of NCC action this week as the teams wrestle in non-conference competitions. Holyoke stands 2-1 and receives Lamar on Friday while the undefeated Wiggins is at Flatirons Academy. The unbeaten Limon will host Coal Ridge on Saturday. Burlington recorded a game with Wray last Saturday after exiting quarantine and losing 34-0 and is now in Rye on Saturday. Wray, 3-1, is on his bye week.
Yuma had passed her week of farewell when she traveled to Ault last Friday. Highland came to town last season and brought the tribe a big loss.
The Indians reciprocated with a predominantly dominant performance against the huskies.
Yuma had 410 yards total, compared to Highland’s 261, and played 27 more games. Yuma covered an average of 6 meters per rush while winning 353 on the ground.
Yuma set the tone on his first drive with a long possession of the ball that ate up almost the first seven minutes. It was crowned by Yahir Trejo’s one-yard fall, and Alex Lozano scored the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
After time-consuming drives, both teams took turns falling short before the first half ended with a flood of goals.
Four touchdowns were scored in the last 3 minutes and 6 seconds.
It started with Robinson finishing a drive with a four-yard TD run. Lozanos PAT made the 14-0.
Highland struck back immediately, however, when Caleb Polk made the following kickback 99 yards, cutting the Indians’ lead in half.
Yuma came right back, however, and Robinson tore down a 63-yard touchdown run to put Yuma 21-7 ahead after Lozanos PAT.
The scoring wasn’t over when Highland marched quickly down to score on Sam Hnizdil’s nine-yard pass to Nathen Martinez with 20 seconds to go. The PAT was good and Yuma held on to a 21:14 halftime lead.
Neither team scored in the third round when Robinson lost to injury and Kevin Hermosillo had to leave the line-up.
Junior Nash Richardson stepped in admirably as quarterback, and the Indian offense kept Trejo and Richardson steady in power.
It led to Trejo’s brief TD run early in the fourth quarter when Yuma regained a 14-point lead with 28:14.
However, Highland came back, scored three minutes later in a short run and made the PAT a seven-point game again.

However, Yuma continued to eat the clock and escaped with the victory. The Indians flipped the ball on Downs towards the end of the game, but Highland had little time to do anything with it.
Robinson ran for 204 yards and two touchdowns at 20 carries. Trejo hit 130 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries while Richardson added 27 yards on six carries. Jesus Ross had two carries for seven yards and John Smith one for three.
Robinson completed five of eight passes for 57 yards. Ross had a big reception at 32 yards while Smith had two catches for 16 yards and Daman Thornton two catches for nine.
On the defensive, Trejo had a total of eight tackles, including two at a loss, Smith six, Thornton five, Ross four, Kallen Blach four, Hermosillo three, Ethan Gonzales three, Robinson two, Victor Perez two, Conner Lynch two, Richardson one. Ezekial Martinez one and Trey Stegman one.
There was only one turnover in the game, a lost fumble from Highland.
Yuma controlled the time of possession, converting eight out of 12 attempts with third place and three out of five attempts with fourth place.

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