Pumped up as he was to lead the charge offensively, showing his complete recovery from a leg injury that interrupted his junior season last fall, Tyler Barnes got as much – if not more – satisfaction from leading one last defensive stand during Ignacio’s season opener on Saturday.
With visiting Roaring Fork attempting to eclipse its paltry spring point total in just one fall outing, and positioned inside the Bobcats’ 5-yard line with time running out in the fourth quarter, IHS needed just one last stop after forcing a Max Bollock incompletion on first down from the 10, then surrendering 7 yards on two Oscar Barraza carries.
Correctly guessing which Ram would get the call on fourth down, Barnes barged through the right side of Roaring Fork’s offensive line and combined with fellow senior Alric Hudson to stuff Bollock at the 2-yard line with just 90 seconds remaining – effectively preserving a 50-20 nonconference conquest.
“Oh that felt great, hearing that big pop!” Barnes beamed afterward. “Me and Ricky looked at each other like, ‘Yeah!’”
“I’ll tell you what, coach (Bill) Gwinn does a fantastic job on defense. He puts the kids right in the right holes, right spots; he’s an awesome teacher of the game, especially on defense … every game we play,” said head coach Alfonso “Ponch” Garcia, tipping his cap to his longtime lieutenant. “The kids listened, they were disciplined – that’s what we wanted.”
Two victory-formation kneel-downs by quarterback Gabe Tucson ultimately ran the clock out, coming after a 4-yard Barnes plunge that upped his game counts to 23 carries and 198 yards rushing, with his 43-yard touchdown tote down the middle of IHS Field serving as the game’s final six-pointer (junior John Riepel would lug in the subsequent two-point conversion), and leaving the kids from Carbondale 7:48 in which to potentially mount one last scoring drive.
“They scored, and we kept on going again. We never gave up, and I saw that in the team,” said Barraza, who’d scored one of Roaring Fork’s three spring season TDs. “You know, we were down before the half and brought it back up after halftime – I know we played our hearts out. That’s a fact.”
Ignacio (1-0, 0-0 1A Southern Peaks) would build a 16-0 lead during the first quarter, which got underway with ’Cat sophomore Rylan Maez recovering a Shawn Campbell onside kick, but Ram senior Ze Pina then smothering a failed center-quarterback exchange on the very first play from scrimmage. Set up at midfield, Roaring Fork’s first series would also end on downs, with Bollock throwing incomplete from IHS’ 21 and 7:55 left.
The Bobcats would then march 79 yards in 10 plays, with Barnes bulling in from a yard out. Tucson then threw the conversion to sophomore Devante Montoya, but the 8-0 lead was quite bittersweet; Campbell had collapsed with an injured left knee two plays before Barnes’ score, and was first physically carried off and later carted away for treatment.
Riepel became IHS’ kicker, and promptly tried an onside kick, which he’d recover at the Ram 47 with 4:03 left in the first quarter. Seven run plays and 2:19 later, Barnes struck again from 3 yards out, and Tucson again found Montoya for the plus-2.
“It just kind of opened up. They weren’t ready for that, and I just happened to be wide open,” Montoya said.
After the guests got on the scoreboard with 7:12 left in the second quarter, via a 41-yard Bollock-to-Blake Thomas connection, Ignacio increased its advantage with Tucson (8-of-12, 135 yards passing) hitting junior Beau Brunson for a 25-yard score with 4:10 left until intermission, and Tucson finding Riepel (7-52 rushing, 5-88 receiving) for a 31-yard TD with 1:06 to go.
“As a whole, the game plan worked, and we stuck to the game plan,” said Garcia. “I was supposed to call more plays, but you know what? I was calling plays that were working, so it was fun. And fun for the kids.”
The Bobcats then began the second half driving 56 yards in nine plays and 2:53, with Barnes crashing into the end zone from 3 yards out, swelling the lead to 34-6 (his conversion carry failed) before Roaring Fork responded with a time-draining 12-play, 53-yard drive capped by junior Zane Garcia bobbling a Bollock throw into the end zone, falling face-first, then twisting onto his back to complete an 11-yard TD catch.
Garcia then snared Bollock’s two-point dart, bringing RFHS (0-1, 0-0 1A Western Slope) back to 34-14 with 2:53 left in the third, but IHS answered with an all-run, six-play, 68-yard push polished off by a 33-yard Riepel run with 11:48 left in the fourth quarter, and Barnes plowing in for the extra two points.
“I’d like to give it to the linemen – holes were just huge today,” Barnes said. “They did a great job exploding off the line, getting to their blocks. I was just getting the ball and running it!”
Capping a two-play, 52-yard drive, Thomas then broke off a Barnes-like 35-yard TD run, breaking at least five tackles while paralleling the visitors sideline for the Rams’ final six points, but the 42-20 deficit would prove too great to erase.
Bollock finished with over 150 yards through the air and, like Tucson, was not intercepted. Thomas, who took two snaps under center just before halftime after Bollock was briefly shaken up, unofficially tallied 78 yards rushing on 10 carries. Barraza netted just 20 on his 11 carries, with a long of 21 recorded during RFHS’ first scoring drive.
“Proud of our quarterback, doing what he was asked, and John … I could go on and on about all the kids – if you noticed, when one got hurt we put a lineman (freshman Kendrick Nossaman) as a wide receiver,” Ponch Garcia said. “We don’t have depth, so it’s one of those things – I guess Monday’s going to be a recruiting day for me –where they got tired, but it’s OK.”
“Having such a small team, and not coming out (of the game) … it gets to you pretty quick,” said Barnes, grinning.
Up next, the Bobcats will visit 3A Newcomb, New Mexico, for a 3 p.m. kickoff Saturday. Winless in four outings during the New Mexico Activities Association’s March-only spring season, the Skyhawks fell to 0-1 this fall with a 28-22 loss on the Saturday at 2A Laguna Acoma.
