The joys of being a spectator...

  As our off-season workout (finally back to a dozen athletes) ended we left the weight room and started to hear the Palace rocking.  Who knew that the game of the week would be the Yuma High v. Gila Ridge freshmen game?  It went back and forth all the way to the third game.  Both JV and Varsity teams got into the action and were screaming as each point was scored.  I was proud of our Wardens (high school students who work the games doing score book and clock) as they kept their cool in an exciting game.  The Gila Ridge parents were yelling if a point went up on the wrong side.  A)  they're high school kids  B)  you're an adult  c)  it was fixed within 30 seconds 4)  ... oh wait they are from The Ridge and the world does revolve around them, forget that Copernicus guy.  Anyway, it was fun not to have my camera kit and just sit back and watch what's good about high school sports.  Lots of spirit, everyone into the game, and a competitive attitude.  Good times.  Oh yeah, GR won 18-16 in the third set.

Marlana Rodriguez serves a floater in the JV game. 

  Picked the kit up for the JV and Varsity games.  Captured some good action and saw a lot of improvement.  Both teams have new setters, new coaches, new serve receives, and new something else that I can't think of now too.  They keep getting better than the last time I see them.  The Varsity team keeps their heads up and appear to be having fun on the court.  Important.  I just don't want to see them accept losing.  They'll make it to where they need to be by the second round of regional play.

Junior Isabel Villalobos leaves the ground to pass to her setter.

Junior Brittany Clifton leaves the ground to pass to her setter.

We are trying to be the first the jump passing team.  It'll sweep across the nation.  Jump setting is a thing of the past.  Revolutionize the game; it's what we do.
















The Criminals are at Cibola this Thursday. 
Bleed Blue
Jurgens

Tough weeks never last...

But tough Criminals do.
  It was a full week of activity for the Crims and the scoreboard didn't show a successful week.  I would be depressed about that except I saw a lot of good stuff that would never be indicated on a scoreboard.
  Cross country went to the huge Cibola Invitational at Cocopah Resort.  There were a lot of teams there from all over.  We had two really good performers who received medals for their efforts.  Out of ten teams (I just made that number up) we had a top 15 runner for boys and girls.  Miguel Gonzalez and Jazmin Ortiz ran hard and made up for the fact that we only had 9 (I just made that number up) runners total for all four teams.  Cross country is a tough sport that requires a lot of ganas from the runners and right now we are looking for runners.  Plenty of ganas, not a lot of runners.  Seems to be a constant across the board in a lot of sports.

 

Miguel Gonzalez goes for a PR as he leads the boys team.

Jose Lopez takes a look at either the competition or the camera.

  And then the unexpected happened... I met a Criminal.  Capital C.  Criminal.  What I would hope that everyone of my athletes would be.  Enter Jazmin Ortiz.    Senior.  Aggressive.  Athletic.  AP classes.  Medal finisher at a huge invitational.  What impressed me most about this young runner is that after she finished a great race, she went out and cheered everybody in.  Everybody. Boys.  Girls.  JV.  Varsity.  Everybody.

You better be giving it your all or Jazmin Ortiz will have something to say.

  Favorite lines from Ortiz: "com'on holmes, you can do it!", "Ruby if you walk I'm gonna smack you!", and the best line of the day: "Uh, uh, San Luis, you better not be walking.  You better at least do a slow jog!"  Note that these were guys she was yelling at and you better believe they started running again.  She had a way of motivating everyone which shows the camaraderie that runners share.   Why didn't I know about this athlete before?  Don't know.  I can only say that it's awesome to see athletes like this.  If we had more like her we would be competing against ANYONE in state. 

If you're still with me let's move on to football...

  We had a battle with Gila Ridge on Friday.  Mostly resulted in the Gila Ridge fans yelling a lot and Yuma fans groaning.  I hear that Gila Ridge is pretty good this year in football but it didn't seem to matter to me.  It hurt my soul.  The final score isn't important (at least to Yuma fans) but it did leave the question: when are we going to get it going like we know we can?  "GR played their best game of the year" was the quote of some people that I talked to.  Again, didn't care.  I just want our boys to play to their potential.  I saw a lot of players working hard and I have many good kids that play in class, but I want the whole thing to start jelling and have the Criminal football team start to role.  We'll give them a battle when we see them again for homecoming.  Blah, blah, blah, let's see some pictures and get to the bright spot.

 

We have the best band in the city.  I might be biased.  They are large, march well, and sound fantastic.  Kudos to Mrs. Dallabetta and the Criminal marching band.  Carlos German stands at parade rest after a solo.

Anthony Jackson fields a kickoff in the first half with the sun setting in the background.

Kyler Dorries protects quarterback Makeala Chun as Yuma looks to air it out.

Yuma has a tough battle with pre-season favorite Cibola coming to Doan Field.  All I want to see is a team playing together with everything they have.  Is that too much?

And if you're still reading...

You've won an ipod.  Good luck collecting.  

  The volleyball team took on the Havasu Knights on Thursday.  This is the first season with new head coach, Emily Dyke.  She's got big shoes to fill as Coach Garcia lead the Criminals to a couple region titles until he decided to finally retire for some well needed rest.  We have a new setter this year in Michelle Watson who is only a sophomore and shows great improvement every time out.  Let's get crazy and go to the pictures without the tome of writing this time.

Sophomore Baylee Franklin gets a hand on a ball.  Close that block!

Senior outside hitter Brooke Schlamann attacks the Havasu defense.

Criminals celebrate an Ace.  Let's hope that they hit the floor for every ball this year.

There you have it.  It looks like I'll need to do separate posts from now on for each sport.  This is what happens when you leave it until after the weekend.  Let me know what you think of this weeks post.

Until next time,

Bleed Blue

Jurgens

The Joys of Technology...

What happens when you rely too much on technology?  Set backs.  This week made it impossible to follow the events and get those pictures published and cover the Crims like they deserve.  So enter the time machine....

Hey, great pictures follow, just not from this year.  I had to go back to the vault and pick some favorites from the same sports, only one year ago.  Hopefully I'll be up and running this week and back on schedule.  Enjoy and feel free to comment on anything you see.

Starting off with something different.  The focus is sometimes not on the athlete.

In the end the Criminal is always the main focus.

  Criminals leading from the front.

Miguel Gonzalez is back this year for his senior season.

When's the last time you've seen an extra point or field goal in high school?  Andrew Herrarte kicking one in.

JC Baker scores another touchdown against Gila Ridge.  I never get tired of saying that.

When they try and stop the run, we put it in the air.

Senior Danielle Pelroy passes to her setter to set up the attack.

Brooke Schlamann attacks the other team and leaves a dent in the ball.

Next week should be a busy time for me as I need to make up for this week.  Hope you enjoy the blast from the past.  Whatever year they are from, Criminals always take it to their opponent.

Until next time,

Bleed Blue

Jurgens

Welcome to Criminals in Action...

 

Here we are at the beginning of the 2010-11 school year.  I hope to use this page as a way to keep track of what's going on at Yuma High and a way to stay on top of the pictures I take.  This page will be updated regularly in the fall and then we'll see what happens when coaching starts.  Welcome to the Criminal Nation, enjoy your stay, and remember to always "Bleed Blue!"

Criminals invade the links...

Criminal Marrisa Madrigal has a sweet swing and follow through.

I covered the Girls Golf team on Friday (9/3) for coach Huyck as she had a prior engagement.  Coaching golf was an interesting experience.  Mostly it involves driving around seeing if the players need water.  Spending time on the golf course on a beautiful (although a little toasty) Friday afternoon isn't the worst way to go.  The only bad point is that high school golf is a SLOW affair.  I believe 9 holes took around three and a half hours.  Most of the Yuma girls have never played before and are learning something new each day.  They are a great bunch of girls who kept their heads up and improved their scores by a combined 40 strokes over the first time out.  Cibola has some legit golfers, but for the most part it looked like most of the girls are "emergent" in their skills.  Good times were had, but getting back to Yuma at 7:20 for the football game didn't leave much time to get ready to take pictures.

Not the best picture, but liked the club flex of Danielle Preston.

The girls play again next Saturday v. Kofa and Cibola.  7:30 tee time at Foothills Golf Course.


Click here for all the photos of the match.









Only eight more weeks before Kofa...

Travon Clark had the touchdown for the Criminals.

 I got to the game late and only stayed until half (it was a long day, see above).  When I got there it was 7-6 Yuma, then it went downhill.  I should have stayed on the golf course I guess.  The crowd was pretty big and loud, which is great to see.  It's been awhile since we had big, rowdy, raucous crowds.  When's the last time the stands were rocking with a "Yuuuma, Criminals"?   I can't wait until we start playing the teams in town and we get more of the student body there.

Anthony Jackson taken down with quarterback Makalea Chun leaping in at the end.

Many of the skilled positions are newly filled as many great players left us from last year.  The Crims fought hard this night and unfortunately ended up on the wrong end of a beat down.  I can't wait until next week when I might see a whole game (can you say road trip?).  Yuma is on the road in El Centro next week.  7:00 kickoff.

Mick Walters leads the offensive line as they prepare to attack.

Since I was only here for about a quarter I only got a few keepers.  Click here for the rest.

I'll continue to work on this blog as the year progresses.  Visit my Flickr site to see all my last years photos.  The heat may being going down, but the Criminals are ready to heat things up on the field and court.  Everyday is a great day to be part of the Criminal Nation.  

Until next time,

Bleed Blue

Jurgens