’Cats ready to end season hosting Centauri
Fortunate to have not made a disastrous mistake the previous play, Zackariah Loudenburg made one of the quickest, sharpest adjustments any Bobcat to date had, and then punctuated Ignacio’s most perfectly-executed possession Friday night, Oct. 16, at IHS Field.
Including recently-reactivated senior wide receiver Shaun Sanderson’s 19-yard return of the second-half kickoff, setting the ’Cats up at their own 36-yard line, Loudenburg led the home team all the way downfield to Trinidad’s 11, when a pass play targeting Sanderson was called. Loudenburg dropped back and, with a Trinidad defender bearing down, passed towards the end zone close to IHS’ sideline.
Miner defensive back Anthony Garduno, however, jumped the route perfectly and appeared set to make not only the interception, but then return it 94 yards for a crowd-silencing, mercy rule-enacting touchdown. Likely sensing all of that, and seeing nothing but green turf ahead, the freshman dropped the football before fully gaining control – and gave Ignacio a second chance to get on the scoreboard.
Lining up in a similar formation, Loudenburg looked for Sanderson to instead cut his route in. Seeing Sanderson had done so, Loudenburg ignored THS’ pass rush and threw a dart which Sanderson easily snared and took into the end zone, capping a 14-play, 64-yard march which, including Sanderson’s kickoff return, devoured the third quarter’s initial 8 minutes, 38 seconds. Loudenburg himself then plowed through the line to add the two-point conversion, trimming Trinidad’s lead down to 35-8 and reinvigorated the Bobcats.
“You know, it gave us some confidence back that … we could do it,” said Loudenburg, who faked a punt during the drive and flipped a saving 20-yard pass to Sanderson. “We’re right there, you know, and it just felt good to be able to make a drive finally – it feels like we’re making some progress.”
Able to overcome not one, but two catastrophic snaps missing freshman QB Leland Roybal, the Miners responded with a 53-yard push consuming the last 3:22 of the third quarter and the first 0:58 of the fourth, and Roybal hit freshman Tyson Imes from 22 yards out for the score. Senior Curtis Bueno’s point-after kick, however, failed, leaving the score 41-8 with 11:02 left in regulation.
After THS kicked off, the ’Cats went back to work from their own 39 with 10:52 remaining and again engineered a scoring drive. A much faster one, at that; senior Brandon Blevins (13-44 rushing) carried for a yard, then Sanderson took a handoff 18 yards to THS’ 42. The Miners called timeout, but Loudenburg then fired between two defenders to Sanderson, who then legged out the last 25 or so yards of the 42-yard TD strike.
“Recovery was a long process,” said Sanderson, who’d been sidelined by injury since IHS’ season-opening loss at Montezuma-Cortez. “I tried to pick it up a bit but I’m a little rusty still. But it felt good to be back; tonight I already topped my ‘record’ for touchdowns in a season – definitely a good feeling.”
Loudenburg’s two-point pass went incomplete, and neither side managed to add any more points – Bueno missed a 32-yard field goal try with 6:56 to go – within the final 9:28 of what ended up being a 41-14 Trinidad victory. The ’Cats nearly struck again during the final minute, but Loudenburg’s last-ditch heave fell just short of a seated Blevins’ fingertips at the goal line and, with 0:37.7 left, ended a promising 10-play drive begun at Ignacio’s 47 with 3:40 remaining.
THS junior running back Cisco Sandoval carried just twice after intermission, gaining 27 yards, but finished with a devastating 213 yards rushing. 162 of those came during the first quarter, in which he logged TDs of 7 (with 8:36 left), 37 (1:44 left) and 79 (0:16.5 left) yards.
After his longest run, which increased the Miners’ early lead to 22-0 (after Bueno’s PAT), Trinidad recovered a squibbed kickoff at IHS’ 45 with 11.9 ticks still left in the first quarter, and senior Andrew East then broke off a 45-yard TD run. Fortunately for the ’Cats, a holding penalty during the play negated the score and reduced East’s net gain to just six yards.
Injured after reaching Ignacio’s 10 two plays into the second quarter, East would leave the field but THS (2-5 overall, 1-3 1A Southern) managed to complete the drive with a 4-yard Sandoval carry. Bueno’s PAT missed, but with a 28-0 advantage and just 9:05 left until halftime, the Miners were well on their way to earning a road win.
Looking ahead, Ignacio (0-7, 0-4) will wrap up its 2026 campaign hosting La Jara-based Centauri at 7 p.m. Friday, October 30.
“We definitely were short on skill positions, when it came to DBs and offense,” Sanderson (6-93 receiving; 4-18 rushing) said, “but I think this was, like, the best game we’ve played all season. And with Keyon (Alston) and a couple other people back … we’ll have a better shot.”
“Confidence level’s pretty good,” said Loudenburg (9 comp., 105 yds. passing, 0 INT). “I feel as long as we get a few players back … we’ll be able to give them a run for their money.”
WET WEATHER SCRUBS BAYFIELD TRIP
The Bobcats had been slated to visit Bayfield for a 7 p.m. showdown Thursday night, October 22. As that week’s weather worsened drastically, however, the Pine River Rivalry clash was initially postponed until noon the following day. But with near-nonstop rainfall continually intensifying and flooding in and around both towns becoming an extreme concern, the game was scratched altogether from the teams’ schedules. As of Monday morning, October 26, there had been no further update regarding the no-contest.
“Ignacio has canceled all activities for Friday, October 23, due to flooding. As a result, our varsity football game against Ignacio and senior recognition scheduled for noon Friday have been canceled,” read BHS athletic director Andy Duffy’s e-mail. “We will share an update regarding senior recognition [IHS-BHS was to be the Wolverines’ Senior Night game] once arrangements have been finalized. Thank you for your flexibility and understanding as both communities navigate these weather conditions. Please stay safe.”
Fortunate to temporarily flee the also-flooded San Luis Valley, Centauri (6-2 overall, 5-0 1A Southern) went east on the 24th to Trinidad and won 32-8. Beaten 47-6 at home by CHS earlier this season, Bayfield will likely finish ’26 standing 2-6 overall, 1-4 in conference.