Evilly awful with all his kickoffs – none had a chance of reaching Ignacio junior return specialist/wide receiver Wyatt Hayes – Centauri senior Devon Barrows all but painted a “kick me” sign on the Bobcats’ collective back when he drilled an Ignacio up-man square in the reverse digits with his initial attempt, humorously getting the teams underway Friday, Oct. 10 at IHS Field.
Had it not been for junior Chase Sanchez’s quick smothering of what was unintentionally, yet essentially an onside kick, the No. 8 ranked [CHSAANow.com poll, 10/6] Falcons might have enjoyed a swifter start towards what ended a 41-0 shutout – with CHS cruising into halftime already up by 34 points.
Starting from their own 47-yard line, the Bobcats’ opening series ended after Hayes’ first (of five) punt was blocked and Centauri recovered the ball at the 30 with 10:47 left in the first quarter.
Eighty-seven seconds and five powerful runs later, alternating between seniors Jareb Aziz and James Richardson (six if one adds Richardson’s two-point conversion), CHS was on the board with Aziz crashing in from two yards.
Ignacio’s next series ended with Barrows falling upon a botched snap to quarterback Adison Jones (9-of-25, 89 yds.), and four plays later counterpart K.C. Jarvies (7-of-13, 86) hit wide-open sophomore Dustin Sowards up the left sideline for a 19-yard score with 6:15 left. Junior Devon Chacon toed the point-after try and the rout was on as IHS dropped to 1-6 overall, 1-2 in the 1A Southern Peaks Conference.
Coming off a 45-8 road loss a week earlier to the SPC’s other predominant team, then No. 6 Monte Vista, the Cats struggled to stop Aziz (15-118 rushing, 2 TD) and Richardson (25-163), but did catch a small break when the former was ejected for throwing a punch after a 13-yard pickup on the second-to-last play of the second quarter.
Chacon, to the visitors’ chagrin, was lost to a left knee injury just two plays into the fourth quarter when his pressure on Jones led to the senior being sacked to halt the locals’ last promising drive [two plays before, an 18-yard Jones-to-Kruz Pardo touchdown, apparently capping a nine-play, 59-yard push, was nullified by penalty].
But Jarvies rallied Centauri (4-3, 3-0) offensively, and after an encroachment infraction against Ignacio, and a 42-yard Richardson romp, Jarvies carried for the last nine yards of a speedy 69-yard surge. And ironically, out of all head coach Kyle Forster’s available players, Barrows somehow booted the PAT in Chacon’s stead to enact CHSAA’s 40-point ‘mercy rule.’
The Bobcats’ only other noteworthy drive – eight plays, 30 yards starting from their own 36 – was ended by Sowards intercepting a Jones jump-ball rainbow, intended for Hayes, at the Falcon 4 with 5:36 left in the third and CHS seated upon their aforementioned 34-0 pad.
IHS’ defense had just set a promising tone for the second half, with senior Mike Perez sacking Jarvies for a two-yard loss back to the Ignacio 36, ending a nine-play Falcon drive and forcing a turnover-on-downs with 8:22 remaining.
Under nearly constant pressure, Jones finished the game with minus-24 yards rushing on five carries. Perez was held to 11 on eight, senior Blaine Mickey -1 on one and Hayes -8 on one. Hayes did catch five passes for 63 yards, Pardo snared two for 17 and Keith Joosten two for nine.
Senior Mitchell Wilson caught a 14-yard touchdown pass and also ran in another from two yards during Centauri’s decisive second quarter in which IHS’ offense was active for fewer than 90 seconds.
CHS junior Nikolai Pawloski recovered Barrows’ only legit onside, immediately after Wilson began the frame with his TD grab and after Aziz scored from four yards out with 9:57 remaining, Jarvies & Co. trotted back out after senior OL/DL R.J. Ruybal covered a bad snap to Jones with 9:48 left – leading to Wilson’s six-point run with 7:01 to go.
Ignacio next hosts Center (3-4, 1-2) on the Friday, Oct. 17 and closes out the regular season versus Dolores on the Friday, Oct. 24. The Vikings defeated the Bears, 16-8, the night before Centauri visited IHS.