He'd heard the crowd respond when the Bobcats laughed first.
But after the visitors rallied with 38 unanswered points-the main reason for those same bleachers' rapid emptying after halftime-senior Marcus Chapman knew how important it would be last Friday night for Ignacio to have the last laugh.
Even if Montezuma-Cortez, thoroughly avenging last year's loss inside Panther Stadium, would ultimately laugh best. Or loudest, given all the game's various vocal outbursts.
Pressed into quarterbacking duty at halftime after senior Trace Lovelace could hardly flash a Homecoming King smile due to an injured left ankle, Chapman endured all the heat M-CHS could eagerly apply, but ended up leading the team on a 69-yard drive and finished the scoring with a 15-yard TD throw to sophomore Colten Jackson.
"I went in, and I was honestly just really upset at the beginning," said Chapman, whose first three series under center ended with an interception by Panther Tyler Wilson, a 3-yard safety by junior Ezequiel Vargas, and a 19-yard safety-set up by an overhead snap-by sophomore Ethan Root. "I hadn't been practicing quarterback all season. To get that (touchdown)...helped me a lot. It felt amazing all the way around."
From his holder's position, Chapman then ran the two-point conversion around right end on a fake point-after kick. But even with IHS then recovering a Montezuma-Cortez fumble at the Bobcat 49 two plays later, the 38-14 margin still proved insurmountable.
"That was a game we could have played a lot better," Chapman said. "I mean, the first few minutes we were 6 to 6, and that's how the (first) half should have ended. But a couple rough plays, a couple bad things..."
M-CHS junior Ike Dennison fired four touchdown passes in the non-conference win, all coming after Lovelace, set up by junior Mike Archuleta's red-zone interception and return to the IHS 30, got the scoring underway with a 68-yard bomb to Jackson along the home sideline with 0:47.6 left in the first quarter.
Lovelace, however, was dropped for a loss of over 20 yards on the two-point attempt run, and the quarter ended with Ignacio (1-2, 0-0 1A Southern Peaks) up six points at home. Three snaps into the second, however, the guests pulled even with Dennison lobbed a 13-yard score to classmate/part-time QB Cole Herrmann, completing a 55-yard counterstrike with 11:11 left before intermission.
Vargas' PAT try was blocked, with IHS' Lucas Roderick, Natoni Cundiff and Cesar Pedregon getting a good blast through the enemy's line, but set up by sophomore Jacob Schuster's hard running, the Panthers (1-2, 0-0 2A Intermountain) ended the half with a 33-yard Dennison-to-Herman heave-following Roderick's ejection, resulting from a dust-up with Vargas-and a 12-yard dart to junior Vincent Conklin.
The latter score came with 29 seconds left before halftime, capping an impressive 11-play, 67-yard drive in which Schuster toted the ball seven times for 29 yards. He would unofficially finish with 27 carries and 136 yards, while Dennison ended up with 163 yards aerially on 12-of-18 accuracy.
Herrmann gained 65 yards on three receptions and Conklin 63 on seven.
"We lost a lot of our key players from last year," said Schuster, "and I think that we've really stepped up, showed that we can win a game. Because that's not something we always do."
"We're a brotherhood, and.we trust in every single one of our players-doesn't matter who's out there."
But despite the efforts of Chapman, junior Dustin Sanchez (unoff. 7-25 rushing), Archuleta (4-14) and others, it was definitely noticeable that someone was missing.
"We weren't expecting that to happen, Trace getting injured," said Chapman, who unofficially finished 1-for-8 for 15 yards while Lovelace finished 2-of-8 for 74.
"But it happened," he continued. "And kids that wanted to go out, push and try their best.that was good."
Up next, the Bobcats will see their first road action of 2017 when they visit 2A Pagosa Springs for a 7 start tonight. The Pirates (1-2, 0-0 Intermountain) not only invaded, but knocked off Monte Vista 26-7 last Friday night. MVHS (2-1, 0-0 SPC), which Ignacio hosts next Friday, had been #6 in the CHSAANow.com Class 1A poll.
