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CROWNPOINT - It's been a long time coming, but Ignacio High School football finally has that "W."
Friday night, Sept. 2, only a week after a humbling first game of the 2016 season at Ellicott, the 'Cats forced and recovered four fumbles in getting second-year coach 'Ponch' Garcia his first win, 42-0.
"Finally, it's off the back!" he laughed afterwards, shooing the proverbial monkey from his shoulders en route to a rowdy locker room. "We came in here blind, didn't have film, didn't have nothing. So it was one of those things where you just go with what you've got. And the kids executed!"
"You look at the kids and what they have done ... This is what we coach for, to see those happy faces," he added. "It's not for us, it's for them. I'm kind of speechless with it."
Ignacio completed the game-opening 80-yard march in 12 plays and an elapsed 5:09, with senior quarterback Zach Weinreich carrying the touchdown in from two yards out.
Senior Lorenzo Pena, unsuccessful in two attempts the week before, booted the first of six PAT's - authoritatively downing a gauntlet which the Eagles never could scoop off their rainy, waterlogged artificial surface.
Unable to utilize the momentum gained in their season-opening, 26-point rout of 4A Wingate in Fort Wingate, N.M., Crownpoint did go three-and-out to start, and senior Caleb Villa's punt stopped disappointingly at the Crownpoint 40 with 5:08 left in the frame.
Overcoming two false-start penalties, IHS (1-1, 0-0 1A Southern Peaks) covered the distance in six plays and only 79 seconds, with Ethan Appenzeller bulling into the end zone from eight yards away.
"We just had it in our heads today that we had to do good," he said. "We weren't going to mess up; we wanted to really figure this game out."
And despite serving out a heaping helping of senior Noah Manuelito, the Eagles (1-1, 0-0 NMAA Dist. 1-3A) could not find a way to break the Bobcats' defense - which quickly proved as capable as the offense. Primed for another three-and-out series with the punt crew in formation, the snap sailed over Villa's head.
Tracking the ball down, he somehow completed a pass over oncoming Ignacio senior Dalton LaBarthe to senior Durrell Etsitty, but after he advanced back to within five yards of the line of scrimmage, an Appenzeller hit popped the pigskin free and into the adjacent hands of junior Natoni Cundiff.
With Appenzeller shielding the route along the visitors' sideline, the surprised defensive lineman cruised an untouched 30 yards to score with 1:48 still left in the first quarter.
"Trying to run for it, it felt so long ... a lot longer than 30 yards," Cundiff said afterwards.
Pena's point-after increased IHS' lead to 21-0 and things would only get better for the guests.
Sophomore Dustin Sanchez pounced on another fumble three plays after Crownpoint's offense went back to work from their own 33, and after the Eagles countered by intercepting Weinreich's fourth-down toss into the end zone, the 'Cats all but crushed their hopes with another defensive gem.
On the 15th play of what could have been an inspiring 80-yard drive, the snap from the Ignacio 7 again rocketed high and long. Pena managed to have first crack at the turnover but was unable to securely grip it while fending off Villa. Second in pursuit was Appenzeller, and when the ball took a vertical bounce into his hands while he was at nearly full speed, 78 yards of unpopulated field lay before him.
"I have to thank 'Woody' for it," Appenzeller said. "As a team - me and him as middle linebackers - we were both working really hard with each other. It was great.
"Our ends just got to the quarterback, our backs were on all the receivers, linebackers filled our spots - we just did our jobs and it worked out perfect!"
On the first play after returning a punt - ending the Eagles' possession after Appenzeller's jaunt - back to the CHS 13, sophomore Lawrence Valdez carried in for a 34-0 advantage and Pena's PAT enacted the N.M. Activities Association's 35-point running-clock mercy rule with 2:22 still left before halftime.
"It's the small miscues that you make ... we've been on that side!" exclaimed Garcia. "And when you make those mistakes, it hurts, as you see. This team ... they weren't a bad team; they were scrappers. Coach (Bill) Gwinn did a great job on defense this week, and the coaching staff, they all stuck together."
"Those plays right there? Basically, that's what kept it going as such," Cundiff said. "We gave it our all, never stopped. It was our first experience with them, so it was pretty good. I'm proud of us."
"It was just that positive attitude we've had in practice," said senior Lucas Monroe, whose fumble recovery - set up by Dalton Mickey's sack-and-strip of Villa - on the Eagles' seventh third-quarter play set up the Bobcats' final scoring drive. "Positive attitudes and spirits, everybody working together."
Starting from their own 34 with 5:40 left in the third, the 'Cats covered the distance with help from two huge pass plays - a 40-yard Weinreich-to-Timmy Plehinger connection to Crownpoint's 38, and a 30-yard Weinreich-to-Marcus Chapman TD eight ticks into the fourth.
"Our seniors are trying their hardest to actually put ... a good memory in football," Appenzeller said. "We hadn't won a game in like two years," alluding to IHS' 14-game slide following a September 2014 win at Walsenburg John Mall. "It's feeling good to blow out a team, you know, instead of being blown out."
"To get the monkey off our back - nobody thinks we're going to win again - it's fun," grinned Garcia.
Unofficially, Weinreich finished 7-of-11 for 154 yards passing, with Plehinger snaring two throws for 62. Appenzeller finished with 36 yards on seven carries and Pena 33 on three, in addition to 41 on two receptions. Junior Kruz Pardo had two catches for 21 yards and Chapman the aforementioned one for 30.
Manuelito, briefly shaken up and removed late in the first half, fought for 47 yards on 16 carries for Crownpoint. Junior Isaiah Pool gained 14 on seven and Etsitty seven on three. Villa finished 4-of-7 passing for only four yards, while Manuelito was 1-of-4 for six.
"You know, football's a game where if you don't roll together, the ship's going to tip one way," Garcia said, "and they're starting to figure it out. Hopefully, that carries on the next two weeks."
After a "bye" the Sept. 9-10 weekend, Ignacio resumes non-conference play at 2A Montezuma-Cortez Friday at 7 p.m. on Sept. 16. Off to a 1-1 start, the Panthers play Sept. 9 at 5A Kirtland, N.M., Central.
