SAN JUAN COUNTY, N.M. – Able to block a punt and return it for a touchdown, recover four fumbles and return two for scores, plus return a punt for another, the Ignacio Bobcats spent far more time on the field defensively than offensively Saturday afternoon as they devastated the Newcomb Skyhawks, 52-0.
In fact, IHS’ most sustained offensive series would be a six-play, 61-yard push capped by a 1-yard Gabe Tucson quarterback sneak that mercifully enacted the New Mexico Activities Association’s 50-point rule and ended the action with 2:31 remaining in the third quarter.
“We had a couple injured kids and had to put newer kids … in positions they did not know that well,” said senior OL/DL Jeremy Roderick, himself moved defensively from tackle out to end with both Rylan Maez and Alric Hudson banged up during the contest. “It was kind of tiring, but it feels really good.”
And from the outset, it was evident that Newcomb wasn’t the sort of team that some Bobcats’ older siblings had faced just a few years ago. It was a fact not lost on Roderick, recalling when older brother Lucas was in uniform.
“I remember my freshman year we were 2-and-0,” he said, alluding to IHS’ current 2021 start, “then we came here. … And it was way different than it was this year.”
Owning about the only sterling offensive statistics, senior running back/fullback Tyler Barnes finished with 10 carries for 118 yards. Needing to do little more than call the play and take the snap, Tucson totaled just 37 yards on 3-of-5 passing (a 55-yard touchdown to Devante Montoya and a shorter completion to Anthony Toledo were wiped out by procedure penalties) with Montoya recording one grab for 25 yards and junior John Riepel two for 12.
Barnes would record rushing TDs of 4 and 60 yards and return a Roderick-caused fumble 34 yards for a third score – coming with 1:57 left in the first half and increasing Ignacio’s 24-0 first-quarter advantage to 46-0 at intermission. Surprised freshman Charlie Pargin’s 30-yard return of a shanked punt – booted upward but not forward – with 5:14 left in the second quarter (plus a Barnes 2-point conversion) had initially commenced running-clock play with the ’Cats in 40-0 control.
After replacing starting QB Perry Ellerbe, pulled after cracking his back over prone tackler Jace Carmenoros’ facemask as Pargin finished the stop high, Javarius John unofficially totaled 58 yards for NHS (0-2, 0-0 NMAA Dist. 1-3A) on 4-of-13 work.
Ignacio (2-0, 0-0 1A Southern Peaks) will next travel east to Trinidad on Friday for a 7 p.m. kickoff. The Miners (0-1, 0-0 1A Santa Fe) dropped their season-opener the night before IHS’ romp, losing 49-12, at Raton, in the border towns’ ‘Coal Bucket’ clash as the Tigers improved to 3-0 (0-0 Dist. 2-3A).
Coincidentally, that game also didn’t last three full frames, but because of an on-field fracas that resulted in several ejections.
“We’re going to heal up and just watch film to see what they do,” said Roderick, who registered a 2-yard fumble-recovery TD with 1:39 left in the first frame after Barnes and Carmenoros combined to sack John, and Barnes dislodging the football.
Tucson then toted in the conversion, inflating IHS’ early pad to an unassailable 24-0.
“Earlier there was another … and I’d missed it on scooping,” said Roderick, alluding to Riepel’s gathering and 10-yard return of a Kendrick Nossaman punt-block with 6:41 left in the first. “But I saw (this), and I was like, ‘This is MY chance,’ and I scooped and scored. I was happy about that.”
