Bee’s Best: No. 12 Yuba City High School football team is led by new coach Willie Burns

The Sacramento Bee will unveil our Top 25 football rankings from No. 25 to No. 1, at least a team a day, right up to the Aug. 20 kickoff.

No. 12 Yuba City Honkers

City: Yuba City

School opened: 1922

League: Capital Valley Conference

Division: ll

Enrollment: 1,917

2021 spring record: 3-1

Coach: Willie Burns

Willie Burns started off as an assistant coach on Yuba City’s junior varsity team. He worked his way up to a role as a varsity assistant and then the varsity head coaching job opened up after Aaron Gingery retired.

Burns is a 24-year retired military veteran who also serves as the truancy officer at the school. He has been coaching youth sports for over 25 years. This is his first varsity head coaching job. Yuba City was committed to hiring someone familiar with the program to keep their branding called “Yuba Tough.” It’s something Burns has bought into ever since he started at the school as an assistant.

“I was there when we started the whole ‘Yuba Tough’ culture,” Burns said. “I loved it. I bought into it 100% ... Basically we decided that I would step up (to take the job so) we could keep this thing going.”

He added about being Yuba Tough, “Yuba City is going to keep getting bigger, faster and stronger. (It goes back) to being Yuba Tough… That’s our weight lifting regimen, in our speed training and our dedication to track. We have a formula that seems to work.”

Yuba City won’t be short on returning talent. The Honkers are building off a strong spring performance, where they went 3-1 and made some noise in the region. return multiple starters on both sides of the ball.

Defense figures to lead the way for Yuba as they allowed just seven points in their only loss of the spring season, a 7-6 margin to Inderkum. The Honkers beat Roseville and rival Pleasant Valley by a combined margin of just 21 points. They allowed just 25 points in their four spring games.

The offense will lean on quarterback/linebacker Nick Afato, linemen Noah Dunham and Noah Pineda, and running back Joaquin Porcayo. The defense will feature defensive backs Dorsey Sanders and Kaleb Banez. Yuba City also has a strong class of incoming juniors that could make an impact on varsity right away.

The Honkers have nonconference games against Vanden on Aug. 20, Lincoln on Aug. 27, Pleasant Valley of Chico on Sept. 3 and Chico on Oct. 1.