Last season’s woes are in the past, and head coach Alfonso “Ponch” Garcia expects a full turnaround for his Ignacio Bobcats football team in 2016.
A full year removed from an 0-9 season in the 1A Southern Peaks League, the Bobcats have seen bright spots this offseason. At this time last year, the Bobcats had trouble getting 30 players to turnout for the team with most of those players not even finishing the season. This year, Garcia and his coaching staff have already seen 43 players come out with more to come.
“We want to be able to compete and build confidence. The (wins) will come by themselves if they learn to play together,” said Garcia, who is entering his second year as head coach. “We want to make it fun for the kids. After practice, kids don’t want to leave. (We are) making a great relationship.”
Of the 43 players, Ignacio will have something it didn’t have last season in the leadership department. The Bobcats have 22 upperclassmen to point the team in the right direction. One of those upperclassmen is senior quarterback Zach Weinrich, who is entering his second season as Ignacio’s starter.
“I think people started getting tired of watching a losing team,” said Weinrich, son of Ian and Francesca Weinrich. “Coach Garcia has helped turn it around. He believes in us and pushes us.”
As Garcia has installed a new attitude, Ignacio is virtually starting from scratch in the trenches. Many of the kids who turned out this year are offensive and defensive linemen. Last year, the Bobcats had only five steady players to play on the line with an average weight of 145 pounds. If the Bobcats can take advantage of the increase of potential linemen, they will have more chances to score.
Scoring didn’t come easy for the Bobcats in 2016 when they scored only 26 points all year. Garcia said Ignacio will mix it up a little more on offense this season with more talent on the roster.
Seniors Lorenzo Peña and Ethan Appenzeller are back and will share the load for the Bobcats in the backfield.
“Our specialty will be our quarterback, running backs and wide receivers. We have a little more speed, which is nice,” Garcia said. “I had some older athletes come out, which we missed last year. All of the basketball and wrestling talent came out this year.”
Juniors Marcus Chapman and Kruz Pardo will see a lot of action this year on both sides of the ball at wide receiver and cornerback. With their speed, Ignacio will look to spread the field on offense and take away deep threats on defense.
Ignacio will open its season on the road against Ellicott at 7 p.m. Friday. The Bobcats are eager to take a bite out of the Thunderhawks since it’s their first shot at breaking a forgettable losing streak. Ignacio’s last win was a 26-19 victory on the road against league opponent John Mall on Sept. 26, 2014.
“We want to get a win our first game,” said Chapman, son of Steve and Yvonne Chapman. “We want to prove that we’re not an easy team to beat anymore.”
While Ellicott is the first game on the schedule, the leaders of this Bobcats team all agreed that the team they really want to beat is Dolores.
“If there’s one game, it’s Dolores,” Chapman said. “We really want to beat Dolores for homecoming.”
jmentzer@durangoherald.com
Schedule
Ignacio High School
*–1A Southern Peaks League; **–Homecoming
Aug. 26 – at Ellicott, 7 p.m.
Sept. 2 – at Crownpoint, 7 p.m.
Sept. 16 – at Montezuma-Cortez, 7 p.m.
Sept. 23 – Pagosa Springs, 7 p.m.
Sept. 30 – at Monte Vista*, 7 p.m.
Oct. 7 – Dolores**, 7 p.m.
Oct. 14 – Centauri*, 7 p.m.
Oct. 21 – at John Mall*, 7 p.m.
Oct. 28 – Center*, 7 p.m.
Durango Herald
