IGNACIO – The state playoffs might seem like a lofty goal for the Ignacio High School football team after last season’s 2-7 finish.
Bobcats’ head coach Lupe Huerta, however, thinks with the talent they have developed, it’s the only sensible goal. Ignacio only lost three starters to graduation after last year, and none of them played a skill position.
“We’re at 41 kids, which is amazing for a school our size. We’ve got nothing but upside right now,” Huerta said. “We’d be pretty disappointed if we didn’t do well.”
The team often talks about last season and its struggles in order to use it as motivation.
“We don’t want another season like that, so we better push ourselves so we don’t,” said receiver Clayton Jefferson, son of Robert and Tina Jefferson.
Ignacio is so confident in its chances this year because of the experience last season’s young team gained.
“They know what they’re up against,” Huerta said.
Few better know what they’re up against than junior quarterback Adison Jones. He’s entering his third year as the Bobcats’ starter after completing 120 passes for 1,641 yards and eight touchdowns last season.
Huerta said he’s putting a lot of pressure on Jones to direct their spread attack now that he has a better supporting cast.
“It’s on that quarterback. He has an arm; now he has multiple receivers to throw at, so it’ll be a lot more difficult for them to cover just one guy,” Huerta said. “That’s going to make it easier on him, and it’ll make it easier on the offense with him behind center.”
Jones embraces the expectations; he likes the challenge.
Jefferson should be Jones’ primary target this year, but unlike previous years he won’t be Ignacio’s only weapon.
Huerta likes what he’s seen out of Dolores transfer Mike Bettis at running back as well as how Jefferson is teaching the younger wide receivers.
Ultimately, though, Ignacio hopes it all adds up to points – lots of them.
“What we’ve built in the last couple years is a scoring team, and I think this year, finally, with the receivers we have, they’ll be able to fulfill that part of it,” Huerta said.
Both Jefferson and Jones enjoy playing in the spread.
It gives more players more opportunities to touch the ball and allows the offense some flexibility now that their talent level has improved.
“It makes it easier because if they’re bringing the pressure we can run the ball,” Jones said. ”If they drop off we can hit the little short passes, and I can depend on my wide receivers to pick up yards after the catch.”
On defense, Huerta just wants his team to improve.
Ignacio gave up 46.4 points per game last season and five times allowed the opponent to score 50 or more.
“We had a pretty disappointing season last year defensively. This year is about hitting hard and competing,” Huerta said.
IHS will get its first chance to show their improvement at home against Aspen on Friday.
The Skiers won last season’s matchup 56-0 in Aspen.
“They’re fast, and you’ve got to lock down the edges,” Jefferson said.
Ignacio struggled with Aspen’s speed and line movement last year but chose to schedule the Skiers instead of a smaller school or a larger classification junior varsity game as the opener.
“The challenge isn’t in really winning or losing but how you compete against those bigger schools, the tougher schools,” Huerta said. “It’s not the part about winning in the preseason, it’s competing and knowing what you have to work on. Beating a smaller team or a younger team doesn’t help us improve much.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
Ignacio Bobcats
2013 Schedule
Aug. 30 – Aspen, 7 p.m.
Sept. 7 – at Dolores Huerta, Pueblo, 11 a.m.
Sept. 13 – Shiprock at Ignacio, TBA
Sept. 21 – at Montezuma-Cortez junior varsity, TBA
Oct. 5 – at Centauri, La Jara, 1 p.m.
Oct. 11 – at Center, 7 p.m.
Oct. 18 – Del Norte, TBA
Oct. 25 – at Dolores, TBA
Durango Herald
