PAONIA - In a tough game against the 1A state champions, Ignacio High School decided it was time for a sneak play.
"When I was in college we ran this offense, and we called it 'Polecat,'" laughed Coach Ponch Garcia afterwards, "and it's actually the swinging-gate. These kids were like, 'Are you kidding me? We're going to run THIS?' And I said, 'Yes we're going to run this! It's going to be fun for you; you're going to enjoy it a LOT!'"
While the play didn't work for a touchdown, it did move the ball against the tough Paonia Eagles.
"I tell you what.these kids, I couldn't be prouder of them first of all," said Garcia. "We had to create an offense within two days! And I tell you what.out there on the field it was amazing to see; all on the field wanted to go-every time, 'Coach, put me in! Put me in!' They were all excited about it, and that's what makes it fun for the kids and that's what made it fun for me because they weren't going to quit."
The Bobats have also been plagued by eligibility issues this week.
"Coach knew what we were coming against, and when they found out we were bringing 16, 17 kids they asked if we just wanted to forfeit the game," recalled freshman Dustin Sanchez, the lone true offensive-defensive lineman suited up (and who was lost to injury during the second half). "Coach said, 'No, we'll play,' because he believed in us and we believed in ourselves the whole game."
An upset loss to the undersized, undermanned Bobcats was an extremely remote possibility, surrendering a touchdown definitely wasn't part of PHS' plans. But early in the non-conference clash versus the two-time defending Class 1A State Champions, Garcia and his squad were thinking very differently.
Paonia quarterback Taylor Walters managed to snuff out the guests' last try to finish a torturous 15-play grind which commenced at the Bobcat 20 and reached as close to paydirt as the Paonia 16. The Bobcats gave Paonia little time to reset defensively before each snap.
"We practiced that offense for about one-and-a-half days.but we got it down and we pushed the ball," junior running back Lorenzo Peña said. "We didn't quit and did our best; that's all we can do against this team."
But two plays after getting within striking distance, PHS sophomore Jaden Miller sacked senior Zach Weinreich back to the 24, and Weinreich's third-down pass was off-target. Walters (5 att., 144 yards, 3 TD rushing; 4-of-5, 49 yds., 2 TD passing) then almost intercepted the fourth-down throw, halting the massive march which, amazingly, had consumed just 3:02 off the clock after starting with 7:13 left in the opening stanza.
Three minutes, 20 seconds later, Walters capped the Eagles' ensuing 7-play, 76-yard counterstrike with a one-yard fling to junior TE Trevor Smith. Senior Colby Simpson's point-after kick was true, and Paonia followed with TD's each of the next four times they had the ball. Paonia had 49-0 halftime advantage, which also was the final score.
With its 25th consecutive win dating back to 2013, Paonia improved to 2-0 (0-0 Western Slope) while dropping Ignacio to 0-2 (0-0 Southern Peaks) prior to tonight's 7 p.m. kickoff at 2A Pagosa Springs (0-2).
"It was kind of fun," Weinreich (13-of-32, 72 yds., 2 INT) said of operating in such a unique scheme. "At first you're like, 'Oh man I don't know how this is going.' but then we're moving the ball on the state champions with an offense that - probably - we're never going to run on every play ever again! So it was kind of cool. We've got to come together.get grades up and whatnot, and just regroup, move on and learn from here."
Senior Austin McCaw caught a team-high six balls for 34 yards and Peña-who recovered a fourth-quarter fumble for a defensive highlight-two for 22.
