Denied a long haul to Calhan – and a possible shot at revenge from a 2008 State Playoffs loss to the Bulldogs in the teams’ previous meeting – when that school chose to temporarily mothball its program, Ignacio has found a replacement opponent to fill the created vacancy on its 2016 schedule.

And the Bobcats will still get to enjoy something of a road trip.

On Sept. 2, IHS will instead be traveling to Crownpoint, N.M., to face an Eagles bunch which will have opened its own season August 26 in Fort Wingate, N.M., against a band of Bears hoping for a fresh re-start after going 1-9 overall and 0-5 in the NMAA’s District 1-4A last fall.

CHS, which lost seven seniors to graduation but could return nine (or more) now-seniors, was only slightly better, having finished 3-7 overall and a third-place 1-2 in Dist. 1-3A. But Crownpoint did manage to put points on the scoreboard, totaling a reported 200 (a 54-0 rout of 1-2A Navajo Pine was later forfeited) while giving up 258.

Two of Crownpoint’s victories came on the road, at 2-3A Dulce (24-0) and at 1-4A Zuni (28-18), but the Hawks and Thunderbirds combined to go just 3-16 overall in ’15. And a win over Pine wouldn’t have been much to brag about anyway; three of the Warriors’ four wins last season came via forfeit, and their season ended with losses of 71-0 (on Homecoming, to eventual 2A State Champions Tierra Amarilla Escalante), 58-8 and 64-0.