Remembering last season’s loss to Center, Ignacio’s football players won’t be taking Friday’s 7 p.m. home game lightly.
“Last year, we lost to them pretty bad, so we’re coming back with some vengeance … this time,” sophomore Charlie Pargin said after last week’s shutout win at Trinidad to begin 1A Southern Peaks Conference play,
But should things against the Vikings take a turn for the tense, humor may prove to be the best medicine.
That was evident Friday at Miners Stadium, as the ’Cats trounced THS 38-0 – despite numbering just 14 on paper, or “13½” based on experience (according to head coach Alfonso ‘“Ponch"’ Garcia), or even 13¼ (sophomore Kendrick Nossaman was playing with a reinjured left hand).
When Dutch Nogel Field’s sprinkler system sprang into action after the Miners came out of their final timeout late in the game, still hoping to get on the scoreboard, it was just one more thing at which IHS could laugh.
Exactly three minutes earlier, with 5:01 left in the fourth quarter, the Bobcats (3-1, 1-0 SPC) had a chance to enact CHSAA’s 40-point mercy rules after Nate Hendren’s 2-yard TD plunge inflated the guests’ advantage to 38-0. But backup quarterback Zane Pontine’s 2-point conversion keeper was stopped short, amid a reaction split between those happy the game would be played to completion, and those bummed they wouldn’t be heading home a few minutes faster.
Hendren’s score wouldn’t have been possible without the efforts of “the worst kicker ever,” as Pargin heard after his kickoff with 6:42 remaining. The insult was but a joke; Pargin squibbed an onside kick that fooled a Trinidad player into dropping to his knees and then cruelly bounced over his head and landed at John Riepel’s cleats for an easy scoop.
Pargin’s kick came immediately after Pontine caught some friendly ribbing after his first prep-level touchdown, a 1-yard dive left of center Cruz Martinez (with Hendren tacking on the conversion).
The third quarter was scoreless, but not uneventful; THS quarterback Xavier Garcia was rattled by a tackle at IHS’ 20, unable to gain enough fourth-down yardage to prolong his team’s best scoring opportunity. He was able to walk to the Miners’ bench area, but he didn’t return in the final 19:35.
That incident came 2:02 after Riepel had a punt blow sideways, then backward – resulting in a 9-yard loss; teammate Marcus Maez alertly smothered the football at the 23, ending the first series after halftime. Riepel then sacked Garcia for a 10-yard loss on Trinidad’s first third-quarter snap, prompting IHS assistant coach Bill Gwinn to quip, “We got more yards on that than the punt!”
The second half commenced with Riepel returning David Romero’s kickoff 19 yards, very nearly breaking a big one.
Leading 24-0 at the time, the upbeat and lighthearted ’Cats were never really in danger. Only 18 seconds into the game, Zane Ross recovered a Miner’s fumble on the contest’s very first play. Eight plays and 3:27 later, Riepel threw a 13-yard TD to Devante Montoya. A Riepel dart to Gabe Archuleta then put IHS up, 8-0.
“The first quarter we kind of started off slow, but then we got our feet underneath us … started doing better work out there,” Pargin said. “And kind of third quarterish we … knew we had it.”
Riepel powered the ’Cats offense, gaining 126 yards (unofficially) on 15 carries with second-quarter TDs of six and nine yards. He also threw for 60 yards on 4-of-10 accuracy. Hendren rushed 18 times for 72 yards, and Montoya caught three passes for 43 as Ignacio bounced back from a 42-0 blowout at 2A Montezuma-Cortez, in which two regulars were ejected for fighting and thus ineligible for the trip to Trinidad.
“It was pretty crazy,” Maez said, who recorded one of IHS’ two interceptions (Montoya snagged the other) and caught one pass for 17 yards. “We only had three subs, and really had to condition ourselves. So we ran this whole week of practice, got our conditioning in and I think we all did fine.”
Expecting to have multiple players return this week for homecoming, the ’Cats were optimistic about their chances against Center (2-3, 0-1), which lost its last game, 54-0, to reigning conference and state champion, Centauri (3-2, 1-0).
“Yeah, I think we’re going to play really good because we’re actually going to have a lot of players back,” Maez said.
Trinidad (0-5, 0-1) will travel to Monte Vista (5-0, 1-0) on Friday. The Pirates picked up a rare Monday-night win, 52-6, over Del Norte (2-3, 0-1).
