Kofa High celebrates seven athletes signing on to next level programs

Seven Kofa High School student-athletes turned a signing day at The Kingdom into a larger statement about what Yuma sports can produce: college access, continued competition and a path for local talent to stay connected to home while moving up.

The class honored May 6 included Kiya Sayre, Liam Lansford, Antonio Andrade, Leo Rodriguez, Jorge Castillo, Ivan Lopez and David Gross. Five of the seven are soccer players, while one will move into volleyball and one will continue in Special Olympics competition, making the ceremony broader than a standard college-signing photo.

Sayre is headed to Webber International University. Castillo, Andrade and Lansford are set to play soccer at Nelson American Indian College, and Rodriguez will continue at Arizona Western College after finishing as Kofa’s single-season leading goal scorer. Those destinations give the day its practical weight: three athletes heading to one college program, one to a university in Florida and another to Arizona Western, all after careers built in Yuma.

The human side of the ceremony mattered as much as the school names. Sayre said she once did not see herself going anywhere in sports and credited her mother for helping push her forward. Castillo said his father introduced him to soccer when he was young, but high school made college soccer feel possible. Sayre’s public athletic profile also points to a wider academic goal, since she has said she wants to go to college and become an optometrist.

Kofa coach Jamie Nicewander said the program has sent 100 players to the next level during his tenure, a number that helps explain why signing day has become one of the school’s most visible annual milestones. The current boys soccer group also arrived with strong results behind it, with AZPreps365 listing Kofa at 16-2-2 overall and 10-1-2 in league-related play.

The ceremony also showed that Kofa’s pipeline is not a one-time event. The school held another college-commitment celebration on Feb. 24, 2025, when two seniors signed to continue their careers, and this year’s class widened that pattern with athletes moving into soccer, volleyball and Special Olympics. For Yuma County families, the message is clear: at Kofa, signing day is becoming a regular bridge from high school competition to education and the next level.