Cedaredge swipes Bobcats’ home opener
Gambling with his last timeout of the second half, Ignacio head coach Alfonso ‘Ponch’ Garcia paused play with just 2:19 left in IHS’ 2024 home opener, and the Bobcats needing a defensive stop plus two scores to shock visiting Cedaredge. Ignacio got the former, but unluckily neither of the latter.
After play resumed, freshman Miguel Red barged into the Bruins’ backfield to dump CHS junior Kolter Mann for a one-yard loss and force a turnover-on-downs at IHS’ 25-yard line with 2:13 still remaining. But the guests – who arrived at IHS Field technically on a five-game losing streak since blanking Del Norte 41-0 on Sept. 8, 2023 – knew the ’Cats would have to go aerial and gave up only a 17-yard throw from junior Zane Pontine to sophomore Cayson Burcham the rest of the way while benefiting from four Pontine incompletions.
Pontine was flagged for intentional grounding following the fourth, pushing the Bobcats back to their own 32, and Cedaredge would re-take possession after Mann, fittingly, sacked Pontine for a nine-yard loss. And as the Bruins had begun, so did they end proceedings Friday night, Aug. 30, with four run plays gaining 13 yards and consuming the penultimate 1:41 – securing CHS a 29-20 road win in their season debut.
“That’s the type of game we want to play, where we can just run the ball, grind clock and take over the game in the third and fourth quarters,” said second-year head coach Lane Varner. “I’m so happy with my boys because I think they saw the recipe for success right there.”
“You know, we’re a young team and we had ‘young’ mistakes all over the place. Too many penalties and stuff like that,” he continued. “But I was real happy with the way our boys competed; they played their butts off.”
“Pretty much the game plan was to keep running the ball downfield,” senior Wylee Lorimor said. “And the d-linemen just stepped it up and got through to their quarterback. We definitely stepped it up in the second half, our pursuit to the ball – that’s what we fixed.”
Unofficially, Lorimor rushed for 99 yards on 22 carries, and Mann 145 on 20 to power Cedaredge (1-0, 0-0 1A Western Slope) on the ground. Mann also ran for three touchdowns, including a crushing 52-yarder up the gut with 10:12 left in the final frame. Massive lineman Cruz Alejandre, a tall junior in the 250-pound range, kicked the extra point to put the Bruins up by nine points, then derailed IHS’ ensuing series by sacking Pontine for a seven-yard loss back to the Ignacio 16.
Sophomore quarterback Logan Sanders carried 10 times for 23 yards and was 6-of-10 passing for 91. Senior Ethan Toothaker caught two throws for 37 yards and also rushed 12 times for 46, booking a one-yard TD with 3:29 left in the second quarter. Mann then scored the two-point conversion, tying the game at 14-14 – where it stood going into halftime.
In fact, Ignacio (0-2, 0-0 1A Southern Peaks) had been the aggressor on the scoreboard ever since junior Gabe Archuleta scooped up a Sanders fumble in stride and returned it 39 yards along IHS’ sideline with 2:42 remaining in the first quarter. Senior Charlie Pargin’s point-after kick, however, went wide left, leaving the Bobcats with a 6-0 lead early.
“When I scooped it, I looked to my right and … no one was really there. So, I just hit the jets and was gone!” Archuleta said. “Our energy’s been really slow recently, and I feel like that scoop-and-score was a thing that brought it up and gave us momentum through the game.”
“We were all stoked,” concurred junior Lincoln deKay. “Our defensive coach awards steak dinners to players that get defensive touchdowns – so Gabe earned himself a steak dinner!”
In all, the ’Cats led three times during the contest, the last coming with 7:13 to go in the third quarter, following a one-yard Pontine plunge over the goal line. Pontine’s successful two-point flip to Burcham, however, was wiped out by a chop-blocking penalty, and Pontine’s subsequent throw targeting Archuleta was broken up by CHS freshman Liam Martin.
The Bruins’ next possession, a 14-play, 63-yard march highlighted by two fourth-down conversions, ate up 5:37 worth of clock and ended with Mann scoring from three yards out. He also toted the two-point bonus giving Cedaredge their first lead, 22-20, with 1:35 left.
“We had given them the momentum. We were blocking on d-line instead of going through the gaps – and we figured that out a little bit better … but we’re still going to focus on that quite a bit more,” deKay said. “After the Manual game our plan was to improve the lines – that was our main focus in the week – and we did a little but we’re still going to focus on that more.”
Defeated 22-19 on the 23rd in Denver by the non-conference Thunderbolts, the Bobcats still got 119 yards rushing against CHS from senior D.J. Hendren on just 11 carries. deKay carried four times for 21, but Pontine – who’d thrown two TDs and rushed for one against MHS (as well as intercepting two passes defensively) – was held to minus-23 on nine.
Recipient of both Pontine’s scoring tosses in Denver, Burcham caught five balls for 46 yards against the Bruins. Archuleta made two catches for 16 yards, Hendren one for five and junior Aven Bourriague one for four as Pontine finished 9-of-19 for 71 yards and one pick (Martin, 7:45 left in the first quarter).
The Bobcats will next see action on Sept. 13 against non-conference 1A Olathe, then visit 2A Bayfield on the 20th.
“We’ll just watch film and keep grinding like we’ve been,” Archuleta said. “I feel like we just need more work, more practice and more conditioning … everything.”
“Ponch is going to have us running, for sure,” said deKay. “We have a bye week, so we’re going to focus on hammering out all flaws.”
Cedaredge, meanwhile, will next welcome New Castle-based 2A Coal Ridge on Sept. 6.
“This isn’t the highest moment for us; the highest would be going (back) to the Playoffs,” Lorimor said, alluding to CHS’ first-round loss in 2023 to eventual State Champion Limon. “But we’ll fix little mistakes and just keep practicing hard.”
“We’ve put in a lot of work from last year to this year,” said Varner, reflecting on strides made since the 42-7 loss to LHS, “but we’ve got more to keep doing. This was a good way to start the season for us … and Ignacio, I wish them all the best for their next games and everything.”