Hoops preview: Several teams eyeing big year

Local programs look to keep building in the right direction hawks, ‘rocks and raiders looking for postseason berths

Editor’s note: Antelope will not be included in any season previews as the Rams decided not to participate in the winter athletic season. San Pasqual also will not be included in any season previews due to not playing this winter schedule.

It was a little bit of a down year for Yuma schools in basketball last year. Only four local teams (two boys and two girls) competed in the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s playoffs in 2019-20 compared to the five programs during the 2018-19 season.

Gila Ridge’s boys team was the only program to advance to the second round.

For the eighth time in nine years, the Cibola boys basketball team won the Yuma Union High School District title by winning all eight contests against local competition.

Cibola Raiders 6A Desert Southwest

Coach: Ron Bratton (6th season)

AIA opener: High Jan. 22

The lowdown: second straight

At Basha

For the season, the Raiders finished 12-6 in AIA and narrowly missed the AIA state playoffs.

However, the Raiders, who are aiming to make their first playoff appearance since 2016, will look like a completely new ballclub. Cibola lost seven seniors from the 2019-20 team, but did return 2019’s Yuma Sun/Yuma Rotary Club’s all-region team member Eric Ramirez.

At 6-foot-7, Ramirez can score in a variety of fash

sEE BOYS/B4

It was a little bit of a down year for Yuma schools in basketball last year. Only four local teams (two boys and two girls) competed in the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s playoffs in 2019-20 compared to the five programs the 2018-19 season.

Yuma Catholic’s girls was the only program to advance to the second round.

The Cibola girls basketball team clinched their 12th district championship in 13 years, going 8-0 against local teams.

Cibola Raiders 6A Desert Southwest

Coach: Anthony Gerg (6th season)

AIA opener: Jan. Basha High School

The lowdown: The Raiders have been the most successful girls basketball program in YUHSD and Gerg calls his 2021 roster the deepest he’s had at Cibola.

With all the returning talent, Gerg has lofty expectations for his 22 vs

from the National Football League. Thank you God for allowing me to live out my childhood dream of playing quarterback in the NFL. I am grateful to the Chargers for 16 seasons, and the Colts for the 17th season.”

Rivers was one of a kind. Between his trademark throwing style and his penchant for trash-talking without cussing, he carved out his own niche in the NFL.

There’s no doubt Rivers could sling it.

When he threw for 401 yards and five touchdowns in his second college game, then-Indiana Hoosiers coach and future NFL head coach Cam Cameron proclaimed that the North Carolina State freshman had a future in the NFL.

Rivers didn’t just play in the league – he created a legacy few achieve.

“We kind of think it started at 5, 6, 7, 8 years old, throwing a regulation-size football,” Rivers said before the season opener, explaining how he developed his style. “I couldn’t hold it, grip it, palm it, so I had to kind of lay it in my hand a little bit. You’re not strong enough to throw it, you push it. Then as you get bigger and stronger, you change it a little bit. But I think the actual motion kind of stays with what’s most comfortable and muscle memory and how you get used to throwing it.”

After being selected fourth overall in the 2004 draft, he was immediately traded from the New York Giants to the San Diego Chargers for Eli Manning. Rivers spent the next two seasons backing up Drew Brees in San Diego before taking over as the starter when Brees left in free agency.

In the 2006 season opener, Rivers made his starting debut – and then the next 251 in a row including the playoffs. Nothing kept him out – not the awkward mechanics, not the critics who thought he should retire after his final season with the Chargers, not even the torn anterior cruciate ligament he suffered against the Colts following the 2007 playoffs.

His 240 consecutive regular-season starts was the second-longest streak since 1970, trailing only Brett Favre (297), and it was one of the few stats Rivers cherished.

“It’s certainly important to me and I’m thankful that I’ve been healthy enough to be out there,” Rivers said in November. “I do think there is something about that availability, being there each and every week.”

He was more than just dependable, too.

Rivers won 134 career games – No. 2 among quarterbacks without a Super Bowl ring – and was eighth all-time. Only Tom Brady (230), two-time Super Bowl champs Peyton Manning (186) and Ben Roethlisberger (156), Brees (172) and Hall of Famers Favre (186), John Elway (148) and Dan Marino (147) won more regular-season games than Rivers.