Football Preview: Yuma Catholic Shamrocks vs. Palma Chieftains
The Yuma Catholic Shamrocks will square off against the Palma Chieftains at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Last Friday, Yuma Catholic humbled Catalina Foothills with a 54-13 victory. The matchup was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 49-13.
Nash Ott went supernova for Yuma Catholic, throwing for 278 yards and six touchdowns while completing 100% of his passes. With that strong performance, Ott is now averaging an impressive 3.5 passing touchdowns per game. Darryl Coleman was another key player, picking up 107 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Palma came tearing into Friday's match with seven straight wins dating back to last season (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 20.1 points) and they left with even more momentum. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat the Mustangs 41-0 at home. Given the Chieftains' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 138th, while the Mustangs are ranked 596th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Palma found their leader in underclassman Eli Dukes, who rushed for 150 yards and three touchdowns on only nine carries. Dukes really tore up the turf during one magnificent 70-yard run. The team also got some help courtesy of Isaak Hernandez, who rushed for 76 yards and a touchdown.
The victory made it two in a row for Yuma Catholic and bumps their season record up to 2-0. As for Palma, their win bumped their record up to an identical 2-0.
Yuma Catholic strolled past Palma in their previous matchup back in September of 2023 by a score of 14-0. Will Yuma Catholic repeat their success, or does Palma have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
