YUCAIPA — Yucaipa football coach Justin Price saw his team win four of their five nonleague games. Whether the Thunderbirds are ready for the Citrus Belt League season is a question for which there are no sure answers. Yucaipa completed a six-play, 65-yard drive in the first 69 seconds of the third quarter and made the lead stand up for a 20-13 victory over Palm Desert on Thursday night. Yucaipa (4-1) had several long drives later in the second half, but were unable to score again. The Palm Desert defense followed a “bend but don’t break” policy which kept the Aztecs in the game until the final two minutes. While the Yucaipa performance may not have justified straight-A grades, it was an improvement over last week’s 32-14 setback at Palm Springs. “I don’t want to make excuses, but we went a week without practicing,” Price said. “This was supposed to be our bye week and we could get healthy. We had some players hurt last week and a couple of players got hurt tonight.” Any excuses were valid. Yucaipa wasn’t the only team affected by a lack of practice. Citrus Valley coach Kurt Bruich made the same observations last weekend. Usually when weather conditions affect a game, the conditions are the same for both teams. In the case of the recent wildfires, not all teams were affected equally. Yucaipa had seven turnovers against Palm Springs. Speedy wide receiver Eric Moreno suffered a season-ending foot injury. That mishap removed an outside threat for Yucaipa. Quarterback Deace Turner and running back Logan Barbour provided the bulk of the offensive plays for the T-Birds. Turner gained 121 yards on 14 carries, while Barbour added 125 yards on 25 carries. Turner started the third quarter drive with a 19-yard gain to the Palm Desert 46-yard line. There was only one passing play — a 31-yard pass from Turner to Damian Miller. That pass moved the ball to the Palm Desert 3 where Barbour ran for his third touchdown of the night. “Logan runs hard on every play and he gets banged up a lot,” Price said. Related Articles High School Sports | Redlands girls volleyball team sweeps Beaumont, forces tie atop CBL standings High School Sports | Summit football team runs past Barstow High School Sports | IE Varsity’s previews of the top high school football games Friday, Sept. 27 High School Sports | Although Pacific High School is without a varsity team, the football program plays on High School Sports | Inland high school football stat leaders, Sept. 25 Palm Desert (2-3)  took a 7-0 advantage when they drove 48 yards on five plays. Starting quarterback Alfred Rivera Jr. completed a 44-yard pass to Trey Bolton, and Rivera ran for a 4-yard touchdown. Unfortunately for the Aztecs, Rivera was hurt in the second quarter and left the game with a wrist injury. Barbour’s 7-yard run midway through the first quarter tied the score at 7. Nick Dangleis’s 34-yard field goal lifted Palm Desert to a 10-7 lead with 7:24 remaining, but Barbour’s 1-yard touchdown run with 6 minutes to play in the second quarter put the T-Birds in front 14-10. Dangleis kicked a 24-yard field goal to tighten things with 17.8 seconds remaining in the second half. “We kept things simple,” Price said. “We will have to be more dynamic in the CBL.”