IHS ruins Rye’s Homecoming shutout

Tasked with creating a truck-towed float tailored to a ‘Hollywood’ theme, one of Rye High School’s four grades chose to write ‘Ignacio’s Final Cut’ on its trailer’s tail.

Like visiting Ignacio would be the victim in some sort of horror flick.

And though the Bobcats ended up beaten badly on the scoreboard, they were far from buried.

Sounds like the makings of a, well, trailer promoting next year’s rematch at IHS Field ….

Giving RHS’ Homecoming 2026 football game Friday, October 9, something of a cliffhanger ending, the ’Cats suddenly became the undead and denied the Thunderbolts a shutout on the night’s last two plays. Initially set up at Rye’s 40-yard line – after freshman Isias Cuthair’s bid for a 77-yard kickoff-return touchdown was halted by RHS kicker Nicoline Larson, a senior – with 2:26 (and counting) remaining, sophomore Emmanual Lucero broke a 10-yard carry on first down.

The mercy-rule clock continued to run as each side shuffled personnel on and off the field, and as Ignacio’s coaches shouted encoded commands to quarterback Zackariah Loudenburg, making his first start under center with sophomore Stephen Romero sidelined recently by a broken ankle (Romero had taken over for senior and ’26 starter William Mendoza-Lechuga, lost to an early-season shoulder injury).

And though the ’Bolts were well aware to whom he’d probably look, Loudenburg had no problem targeting sophomore Keyon Alston and lobbed a pressured pass towards the 10-yard line along IHS’ sideline. Not only did Alston – whose name was pronounced no fewer than three different ways – make the catch, he managed to turn around and go for the goal line. Dragging RHS freshman Noah Lewis at least four yards, Alston at last extended the ball far enough to graze the orange pylon before Lewis finally pulled him down.

“I was like, ‘Just keep going! You’re almost there!’ He was just inching over and I was excited that he got in,” Loudenburg said afterwards. “That was pretty nice.”

38 seconds remained on the game clock, but seemingly disappeared even faster than much of the second half already had. Fortunately, head coach Jake Nossaman still had one timeout at his disposal and used it with 0:08 remaining. And when play resumed, Loudenburg flipped a short pass to running back Jayden Scott, who plowed his way around a defender and in for the two-point conversion – clipping Rye’s margin of victory down to 55-8 – as time expired.

“It was kind of hard,” said Scott. “I caught the ball and was trying to maneuver around him, but he kind of caught me. So I just rolled over to the side and into the end zone. I was kind of tired, you know? It’d been a long game, but we fought our hardest to give a hundred percent each play.”

“There was just a little confusion,” Loudenburg said, of why the timeout was necessary other than for simply stopping the clock, “but it ended up working out. Some of our better games we’ve only had one touchdown, so it’s good to have at least one on the board.”

Vying for their third consecutive win, the Thunderbolts (4-2 overall, 3-0 1A Southern) had three up before the end of the first 12-minute quarter – including senior Grant Clennin’s 1-yard plunge with 9:55 left, coming three plays after junior Kolby Clennin recovered a botched snap to Loudenburg at IHS’ 29-yard line just 51 seconds in.

And after forcing a three-and-out, Rye went back on offense at the guests’ 39 with 8:55 left. Overcoming a double-penalty play pushing the ’Bolts from IHS’ 9 back to the 32, RHS struck again when sophomore Brady Bumgartener fired a 32-yard TD to junior Nathaniel Gray. Larson’s second point-after kick in as many tries was good, and Rye led 14-0 with 7:05 still left in the opening frame.

Ignacio came alive during their third possession, but after beginning at their own 35 and soon reaching Rye’s 40 via a 33-yard Loudenburg-to-Alston connection, the ’Cats used their first timeout, and then unfortunately lost the ball the very next play when junior Casen Mittlestadt recovered a high snap Loudenburg couldn’t secure before taking contact from RHS’ Jackson Bjorum.

Set up at their own 46 with 5:36 still left, the ’Bolts then drove the required 54 yards in nine plays (all runs) and 4:31, with Bjorum ultimately barging through the line from six yards out. Larson’s PAT made the score 21-0 with 1:05 remaining, and though Loudenburg ended the quarter with an unreturnable 41-yard punt, Rye had only gotten started.

“We’re kind of a ‘downhill’ running team,” said Bjorum, a senior. “We’ve been doing that since forever; freshman year we had the top runner in the state, and plenty thousand-plus (yards) rushers have come through Rye High School …. Hard-nosed football’s … just Rye!”

Bumgartener began the second quarter with a 73-yard scoring scamper, but after a penalty reduced his net gain on the play to just 11 yards, Bjorum carried twice for 34 yards down to IHS’ 28 and Bumgartener then hit Gray for the score, coming with 10:39 left until halftime. Down 28-0, the Bobcats’ ensuing series lasted just two plays and ten ticks, with RHS junior Thomas Sheppard blanketing a bad snap to Loudenburg at Ignacio’s 33.

A Bumgartener incompletion followed, but two more Bjorum bursts got the ’Bolts into the end zone for the fifth time. But following his 4-yard TD with 9:38 remaining, the ’Cats blocked Larson’s extra point attempt. And after another three-and-out offensively, IHS’ defense again came up roses when a deserving Loudenburg recovered Mittlestadt’s second-down fumble.

Given new hope from Rye’s 45 with 6:57 left, the unlucky ’Cats again went three-and-out but Loudenburg’s punt, plus a Rye penalty during the return, pinned the ’Bolts back at their 17 with 4:40 to go. Bumgartener promptly passed to Mittlestadt for eight yards, and four straight Bjorum runs advanced the ball to the 40.

Bumgartener then broke off a 13-yard keeper into Ignacio territory and followed it with a 47-yard TD pass to Mittlestadt. With 1:23 left in the half, mercy-rule play then commenced, regardless of Larson’s successful PAT increasing RHS’ lead to 41-0.

After the extended intermission, Rye freshman Nick Hayes returned Loudenburg’s kickoff 79 yards for a touchdown with 11:30 left in the third quarter and effectively concluded the quarter with a 48-yard Bjorum punt downed by senior Wyatt Scheid at IHS’ 1.

But Scott boldly broke through the line for six yards, and Loudenburg followed for seven as the quarter ended. He was then sacked for a four-yard loss on the fourth quarter’s first snap but rapidly recomposed himself and threw back-to-back passes to senior Brandon Blevins that moved Ignacio to RHS’ 46. Loudenburg then hit Alston for 19 yards down to the 27 before a pass break-up by Rye junior Michael Sais and a false-start penalty against the ’Cats led to a turnover-on-downs at RHS’ 36 with 5:29 left in regulation.

Nossaman called his second timeout of the half before the ’Bolts began their drive, which ended up being just a 64-yard Hayes QB keeper paralleling Rye’s sideline with 4:32 left. Larson kicked her seventh PAT in eight tries, but the show wasn’t over.

“With all the adversity that we’re facing, all the injuries and everything…. We’ve lost two quarterbacks now, so it’s getting a little tough,” Loudenburg said. “But we’re trying hard, you know?”

Looking ahead, Ignacio (0-6 overall, 0-3 Southern) will next host Trinidad (1-5, 0-3) at 7 p.m. Friday, October 16, then begin preparing for the short trip to Bayfield – which went to and dominated THS 40-16 while IHS worked in Rye – on Thursday, October 22. Kickoff against the Wolverines (presently 2-5, 1-3) is also set for 7 p.m.