MONTE VISTA - Ignacio High School's Clay Campbell had a busy night on the Bobcats' Oct. 12 trip to Rio Grande County and Harvey Sullivan Field. The junior offensive/defensive lineman, already with his hands full enough in the trenches, tripled as IHS' punter and quadrupled as an emergency running back on a night where the visitors suited up as many players - 13 - as the home team had seniors.
And after four 12-minute quarters on Monte Vista's Senior/Parent Night, it proved to be an unfortunate game for the 'Cats.
The game looked at least decent in the the first half for Ignacio.
Via a two-yard plunge by quarterback Ian Weinreich with 11:31 left, and subsequent two-point conversion pass from Lee-Roy Monroe to Sean Campbell, Ignacio was able to halve MVHS' first-quarter lead to 16-8 with 11:31 left in the second quarter. Unfortunately, that was as close as the Bobcats got to the Pirates.
With IHS senior running back Dustin Sanchez deactivated after being body-slammed to the grass and his head taking a vicious bounce upon impact, the Pirates showed less and less fear of their 1A Southern Peaks Conference opponent.
With pads and helmet removed, but ably ambling along IHS' sideline, Sanchez (8-31 rushing) later quipped that Monte Vista was "salty" after taking a 45-8 shellacking from SPC leaders Centauri the previous Friday. And they pretty much were. The Falcons had led Monte Vista 28-0 after one quarter.
After Ignacio fought to get on the scoreboard, MVHS senior Tyler Vigil scooped up Cesar Pedregon's low, bouncing kickoff at his own 23-yard line and blasted through the oncoming Bobcat coverage for a game-changing 77-yard TD with 11:18 left before halftime.
Senior QB Zach Hindes then carried in the two-point bonus, and the Pirates strung together 38 additional, unanswered points before all was said and done in prevailing 62-8.
With both junior Kaidon Wenta (8-147, 2 TD) and Vigil (4-52, TD) eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark for their respective prep careers, Monte Vista unofficially amassed 357 yards rushing on just 29 carries. Hindes (1-of-1 passing, 10 yards) gained 52 yards on four carries and scored once, and the game went into mercy-rule, running-clock mode on the third quarter's first play, a 44-yard TD burst by senior Payton Wilson, with 11:44 left in the frame.
After Clay Campbell's fifth punt of the night, Pirate sophomore Andres Maestas followed up Wilson's score with a 31-yarder and 0:55 still left. Wenta darted left on the conversion carry and tip-toed over the goal line inside the pylon, putting MVHS up 56-8 going into the fourth.
Ignacio (2-5, 0-2 SPC) took the ball once more, but on the series' seventh play Weinreich was intercepted by Pirate senior Adrian Naranjo and MVHS took over at their own 42 with 5:50 remaining. Eight snaps later, sophomore Cobi Garcia plowed in from two yards for the final touchdown. With only 15 seconds left, neither squad bothered to line up for a conversion attempt.
His rushing yardage total drained by a 17-yard loss resulting from a high punt snap, the hard-working aCampbell finished with minus-5 yards on 10 carries. Sophomore Lawrence Toledo managed five yards on seven carries, and thanks to earning 14 yards on four second-half keepers, Weinreich (0-of-4 passing) broke even and netted zero yards on nine.
Up next, IHS will host Dolores (2-5, 0-3) for Homecoming at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 19, while Monte Vista (3-4, 2-1) will pay a visit to Center (4-3, 1-1). Dolores chose to forfeit to Centauri (6-1, 3-0) on Oct. 12.
