IHS-Del Norte boys’ clash among postponements
Last season’s No. 10 seed in the condensed Class 2A State Tournament, traveling to face last season’s No. 11. The defending San Juan Basin League champion, facing the Southern Peaks’ defending champ. Both sides standing 6-3 overall prior to tipoff.
That’s what fans filling Del Norte High School’s gym would have witnessed this past Friday night, Jan. 21 … had the non-league showdown between the SPL’s Tigers and the SJBL’s Ignacio Bobcats not been one of several basketball games canceled due to recent COVID-19 issues impacting programs throughout Colorado’s southwest.
And the list unfortunately got even longer over the weekend.
Following postponement of the IHS boys’ slated 1/22 home game (there were to be no girls’ games that day) against Telluride, Ignacio H.S. Athletic Director Leo Garand informed media via e-mail that the boys’ and girls’ respective battles Tues., Jan. 25, at home versus Dolores had also been pushed back to a later date (since revealed to be Wed., Feb. 9, at 4:30 p.m.).
THS-at-IHS, meanwhile, has already been rescheduled, with Wed., Feb. 2, now the target date and 4 p.m. the start time for all action. Garand said in the aforementioned e-mail he was hoping all postponements would have been rescheduled by the end of the day Monday, Jan. 24.
Another contest now re-listed is Ignacio-at-Ridgway – now set for Sat., Feb. 12, and relocated from RHS to IHS so to create an unusual doubleheader allowing the varsities to complete their season home-and-home in one fell swoop. According to a different Garand e-mail, the 2/12 action inside IHS Gymnasium will transpire as follows: Boys’ varsity Game 1 at 11 a.m., followed by boys’ JV, girls’ JV and boys’ varsity Game 2.
And true to his word, Garand informed all personnel late on the 24th that Ignacio’s trip to Del Norte has indeed been rescheduled, and is now set for Tues., Feb. 15, with JV boys’ and girls’ games getting the evening underway at 4:30 p.m.
In the more immediate future, and if all goes well, Ignacio’s boys and girls are slated to head east to non-league 2A Sargent on Sat., Jan. 29, then resume SJBL play Feb. 1 at 2A Mancos. Action out at SHS will be varsity-only, with the girls’ main event tipping off at 2 p.m., with the boys’ feature to follow.
MOST RECENTLY
All the setbacks mean the last time either the Bobcats or Lady ’Cats actually saw action was Fri., Jan. 14, when IHS’ boys hosted 1A SJBLers Ouray and prevailed 57-40, getting 13 points from both senior Gabe Tucson and junior Eppie Quintana, with sophomore Devante Montoya draining three three-pointers and totaling 11 points.
Quintana’s points all came during the second and third quarters, when the ’Cats made their move on the scoreboard to separate from the Trojans, who led 10-9 after the first quarter but later went into halftime trailing 29-18. Eight of Montoya’s points also came before intermission along with eight of Tucson’s.
With Ignacio having increased the advantage to 45-28 entering the fourth quarter, Tucson then helped preserve the victory with five points as the teams played the period to a 12-12 draw. Junior Dylan McCaw finished with eight points and sophomore Gabe Cox six, while sophomore Phillip Quintana and freshman Coty Webb each sank a three-pointer.
OHS (then 5-6 overall; 6-7 as of Sat., 1/22) got two treys and a game-high 14 points from 5’11” sophomore Calder Green, plus ten points from 6’2” senior Hayden Hart. Junior D.C. Miller got the guests going well with a reported seven first-quarter points, but was blanked the rest of the way.
All told, Ignacio sank seven threes and Ouray four. From the free-throw line, the Bobcats were 4-of-4 while the Trojans were reportedly 6-of-12.
LADIES’ CORTEZ TRIP SCRUBBED
Having had their girls-only date at 3A Montezuma-Cortez Tues., Jan. 18, canceled due to COVID-19 cycling through M-CHS’ program, IHS’ Lady Bobcats (4-4 overall) were to also visit DNHS on the 21st, to face a Lady Tigers team trying to turn their season around after an 0-5 start.
No reschedule date for the 1/18 event has yet been announced.