Colton, CA—After a year without pigskin, Colton Yellowjacket Football took to the field today at Yellowjacket Stadium to participate in a Tri-Scrimmage event against Coachella Valley High and Xavier Prep.

The scrimmage is a pre-season event to get the teams ready for their 2021 seasons, which kick off next Friday, August 20. The Yellowjackets will tackle Alta Loma High School at home in the first official game of the season.

“The kids are ramping up for the season,” said Jacob Van Hofwegen, CHS Athletic Director. “They all came out and played hard today.”

This three-team scrimmage was about preparing the players for the upcoming season, not about putting a notch in the win column. Players wore practice jerseys and quarterbacks were off-limits for tackling in the pocket. The teams rotated on and off the field to make sure they all got reps against one another.

Because of the practice-like environment, head coach Ray Rodriguez and his team spent most of their time on the field during drives, working on plays and fundamentals.

Megan Kelley, the team’s Athletic Trainer, kept her fingers crossed the entire game. “We just want to see as little overuse issues as possible,” she said. “Coach has been doing a good job with conditioning.”

The Varsity squad took the field at 6 p.m., with the Freshman-Sophomore team getting the early start at 4 p.m.

After the Freshmen-Sophomore team finished their game, Sophomore Defensive End Ralph Delgado hit the bench and exclaimed, “It feels good going up against another team for the first time in two years.”

The community couldn’t agree more.