3A Boys Basketball: Yuma Earns Seventh State Championship
By Tracy Renck
DENVER – The improbable became a reality for the Yuma High School boys’ basketball team Saturday night.
The team everyone counted out as a state title contender walked away as the Class 3A state champions.
Vanguard’s Matty Dessalegn missed a three-pointer from the top right of the key off the back iron at the buzzer, propelling Yuma to a dramatic 55-54 win in the Class 3A state title game at the University of Denver’s Hamilton Gym.
“This is surreal,” Yuma’s Edwin Munoz said. “We were being doubted from the start. We lost a lot of seniors, and this was a whole new team and we proved everyone wrong. We just have an amazing team here. This whole state tournament I kept telling my teammates if we miss a shot, we will get it back on defense and that’s what we did. Defense wins championships.”
Yuma finished its storybook season with a 22-4 record and snared its seventh boys’ basketball title in school history to go with the school’s titles in 1958, 1963, 1981, 2018, 2019, and 2022.
“I’m so proud of you guys,” Yuma coach Dave Sheffield said. “We weren’t supposed to be here and look how strong we were. We won (our last) three games by three total points. It is just incredible. It’s awesome.”
The incredible run by Yuma consisted of one-point decisions over Centauri (35-34) in the Elite 8, and Forge Christian in the semifinals (42-41), setting the stage for more heroics on Saturday night. Vanguard finished its season with a 25-2 record.
As exciting as the game was – the tension was magnified in the final three minutes.
Brody Sheffield, the coach’s son, and Christian Duarte delivered in the clutch, scoring a combined five points, putting the Outlaws ahead 53-50 with 2:30 showing on the clock. JJ Wetters answered to get Vanguard within one at 53-52 with 2:10 left in the game.
After a foul was called, Jonathan Thomson made two free throws putting Yuma up 55-52.
After a turnover by Yuma, Vanguard’s Dessalegn put in the follow shot to cut the Yuma lead to 55-54 with 1:15 remaining.
Then, the two teams swapped turnovers and Munoz had a chance to ice the game when he was fouled and went to the free throw line for two shots. Munoz seemed to be the ideal candidate to send to the line for the Outlaws as he had 21 points on seven 3-pointers.
Munoz, however, only increased the tension when he missed both attempts. Munoz’s second miss was rebounded by Vanguard. Vanguard called timeout with 10.3 seconds on the clock to set up its final play.
Moments later, Yuma was celebrating when Dessalegn’s shot bounced off the back of the rim.
“We weren’t even supposed to be here this year, so this is amazing,” said Brody Sheffield, who finished with 13 points. “Our team is great. In the first quarter, we got our butts kicked (they trailed 23-12), and after halftime, we came out on fire. We got defensive stops, and we made shots. We knew we had to make a defensive stop on that last possession and that’s what we did. I will never forget this year with these guys.”
