YC preparing for another postseason run
Shamrocks match up with another White Mountains school in tourney
For the third year in a row, the Yuma Catholic football team will have a postseason showdown with a team from the White Mountains region in eastern Arizona.
It was Winslow in 2015, Show Low last year and now, the Shamrocks host 3A East region champion Snowflake in the first round of the state playoffs. Show Low ended YC’s season in the quarterfinals, the second straight year YC exited at that point in the 16-team tournament.
As an isolated part of the state, an area closer to New Mexico than Phoenix, these East teams have a common style about them. Like the local Yuma teams, they end up more limited in their ability to have an expansive schedule of different opponents.
“The three traditional powers up there — Show
6 p.m. today
Low, Snowflake and Blue Ridge — they all are hardworking kids that are in the weight room all summer long, that are strong, and they like to get after it and overpower you and impose their will on you,” Yuma Catholic coach Aaron Cheatwood said. “They’re very, very similar — all three of them.”
“They’re just big kids that like to play football and like to get after it,” senior linebacker and tight end Jason Pisano said. “They’re not afraid of anything, but we’ll look to go out there and just give them the same game, be hard-nosed in their face too.”
And with that isolation and a quick glance at a map comes the obvious: the travel distance for No. 10 Snowflake (7-3 AIA). It’s 355 miles, and an estimated five hours and 33 minutes, according to Google, but that does not factor in a school bus maneuvering through mountainous highways.
It’s a trip Yuma Catholic (8-2) had to make last year in the 3A quarterfinals at Show Low. Cheatwood said the effects of the distance can be a factor. He sought to eliminate that by having the Shamrocks leave the day before the game and stay overnight.
“It’s definitely a big thing